Harry Potter and the Locket Bearer
by HarryBond007
Summary: Ootp twisted with a time travel. Time-Travel. Previously Harry Potter and the Time Mask Mystery.
1. Description

**This story is the combination of ****_Ron Weasley and the Time Mask Mystery_**** and ****_Harry Potter and the Time Mask Mystery_****. I did this because even when it is cool to have many POVs repeating the same events is annoying sometimes and the story was moving very slowly. I'll drop both RW & TMM and HP & TMM.**

**I think I'll take me a week to get to the point where we were before since I'll give a quick check to the chapters and I'll pick the best POVs for each event.  
**

**As you could see I also put a more meaningful title to the story.**


	2. Children from the Future

**HARRY**

* * *

The walls kept moving fast while flashes of cold light jumped every couple of seconds. It was a long and dark corridor that he didn't recognize. It really didn't matter, he was in a hurry.

His strides echoed steadily like on a big and empty hall. The corridor didn't seem to end. It was crucial to get there soon but he could not remember why.

"Harry!" Ron's voice burst from the distance.

"Ron! Where are you? What is happening?" he yelled quickening his pace.

No answer.

"Harry! help!" this time it was Hermione's voice piercing the air. She was suffering.

"Hermione! I'm coming! Where are you?!"

He thrust forward with the irrepressible despair of not getting there on time. Shouts of pain became more audible as he continued his motion. Sirius was there also and most of the Weasleys.

Why wasn't he with them? If Dumbledore had not left him behind this would not be happening. He was capable, he was useful.

In the moment the anxiety became unbearable an exit emerged in the distance. A tall figure was waiting for him impatiently and about to rush through the black door.

"Come on Harry! We must keep that weapon away from him." Cedric said eagerly. "We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it." His foot was already at the other side of the door and his right hand was gripping the knob.

"No!" Harry panicked "Cedric, wait!" but Cedric had already gone through the door.

"NOOO! Come back!"

The green eyes watered with impotence. He was still far from the door when it began to close slowly. Gathering all of his energies he ran even faster than before.

CRASH.

He slammed directly against the door just as it closed completely. Screams came from the other side. He grabbed the doorknob and forced it back and forth violently. It was locked.

"CEDRIC! Open the door!"

Then a green light flashed across the crack in the door.

"NOOO!"

Harry threw himself against the door repeatedly. The third time, the door opened and everything went dark.

All the world was in shadows. Light was unable to reach his eyes. There were no distinguishable walls or a door behind him. Then a high-pitched laughter thundered all around growing louder and louder.

"Bow to death, Harry"

He turned around almost instantly with his wand drawn and held it high. He was sweating and his right hand was gripping the wand tightly.

A massive hooded figure hovered in front of him. No face or feet were visible. It was a 10 foot dementor. Laying behind it, Harry got a glimpse of a motionless body.

"Dudley!"

"It has not kissed him! It has not been kissed!" Harry muttered trying to convince himself.

He raised his wand and shouted "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The moment he did so a hand took the wand from him.

Harry was now standing on a huge room surrounded by a dozen people on black robes. The one on the middle was a portly little man with rumpled gray hair. It was Cornelius Fudge, the minister, and he was holding Harry's wand.

"Based on your recent violation of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery this court has decided to expel you from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." he said.

"But .. I had to do it! There was a dementor!"

The minister didn't seemed to register Harry's words. "You are now exiled from the entire Wizarding World." Then he broke Harry's wand in half.

"NOOO! You can't do this!" he shouted while the figures became more distant.

"Sorry mate. Need to go." He heard Ron's voice in his head.

"We cannot see you anymore. We're sorry Harry." Hermione's voice sounded gloomy.

He saw them from very far away, walking by the side of Dumbledore. Neither of them responded to his pleads. Albus Dumbledore never looked back.

Then he woke up.

The green eyes opened at once. It was all dark and the high ceiling was hardly distinguishable. The first sound that reached his ears was his own hard breathing.

"Damn.." he muttered slowly to himself.

It was just another nightmare. He leaned on his elbows trying to cool down. Little by little the events that led him there came back to Harry. He had been at Grimmauld Place since last Saturday and the dreams weren't improving. The corridor and the door appeared only a few days ago. What did they mean?

He seated heavily extending his right hand to the side of the bed. Before putting his round glasses on he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and rubbed the top of his nose. The room was completely in shadows and he barely noticed Ron's shape on the other bed. He was snoring.

"Merlin!, this place is depressing." he thought as the forms of the room became more visible.

What was that weapon that Sirius was talking about? It was really that crucial?

The floorboards creaked as he made his way to the loo. While washing his face the concerns that haunted Harry raced on his head. Why wasn't Dumbledore talking to him? He was useful, why didn't the order gave him a bigger part in all this? After all, he was the one that saw him return.

Then there was the hearing.

In two days he would have to face a court full of wizards that could expel him from Hogwarts. Expelled. The thought was unbearable. Hogwarts was Harry's real home. What if Dumbledore couldn't stop them from expelling him? Harry knew that they were just waiting for a chance to do it, to silence him.

It was early in the morning, he knew this by the sounds that came from downstairs. Probably Mrs Weasley was already wandering around the kitchen. Putting some clothes he decided to join her, anyway he wasn't going to be able to sleep now. There was no point waking up Ron, it was to late for Harry to continue sleeping but too early for Ron to wake up.

"Good Morning" he said grimly as he entered the kitchen. Professor Lupin was seated reading the Prophet with a cup of tea while Mrs Weasley was preparing more.

"Good Morning dear" Mrs Weasley forced a smiled when she saw Harry.

"Morning Harry, rough night?" Lupin said slightly raising his eyes from the paper.

"You bet" answered weakly taking a seat by Lupin. "Any news?"

"Nothing valuable"

Harry took a cup of tea from Mrs Weasley.

"Worried about the hearing?" Lupin asked.

"Yeah, a bit nervous. Hope I don't mess it up."

"Everything will be all right Harry. Dumbledore has all the defense ready." Mrs Weasley said.

Harry smiled not very convinced.

Then, BANG.

"Ouch!" a boy's voice came from the hallway.

Harry stood instantly dropping his cup of tea on the table.

"James! what did you .." a girl's voice yelled this time before it was abruptly cut.

"Blood traitors!, dishonoring this ancestral house. Filthy mudbloods, half-breeds..." Mrs Black screeches echoed across the house.

Who was that? Harry was ready to jump out of the kitchen when he felt a hand on his chest.

"Don't. I'll check it first!" Lupin said and ran towards the hallway.

What!? Stay here? How can Lupin say that to him? Harry was not a boy unable to defend himself. Harry could help.

"Harry! don't go!" Mrs Weasley yelled at him when he was about to go after his former professor.

"Don't move!" Harry heard Lupin's voice probably shouting at the invaders.

"What the heck is that!?" the same boy from before said.

Mrs Black's shouts were loud and didn't allow Harry to listen what was happening on the corridor.

"Shut up you old hag!" Sirius' voice came after some heavy footsteps were heard. Mrs Black was silenced. "Who are you? How do you got here?" Sirius surely had noticed the invaders.

Harry wasn't going to wait anymore. He ran through the kitchen door ignoring Mrs Weasley's yells and when he reached the Marauders he was surprised.

Remus Lupin was weakly holding his wand against a group of kids. Sirius had his hand on his own wand but he wasn't pointing it at the children, he was standing by the side of the curtains that covered his mother's portrait with a confused expression.

There were five kids, most of them redheads. The oldest kid would have eight or nine years as maximum. The youngest kids were crying.

"Harry, why did you come here!?" Lupin said quietly turning to face him.

"I wanted to help." The kids seemed stunned.

"Harry you shouldn't.." Mrs Weasley had a reproving tone when she arrived at the hallway but it softened when she saw the kids. "Who are these kids?"

"We don't know, they just appeared here." Lupin said.

"Rubbish! they have like eight years.. tops. They cannot apparate!" Sirius intervened.

"Also how do they get passed the Fidelius charm?" Lupin looked at them suspiciously.

"I'm sure you are not suggesting that these kids are Death Eaters?" Mrs Weasley looked scandalized.

"We can't be sure Molly, they could be in disguise."

At that moment a little girl from the group raised her head. She had a long red hair and tiny freckles, she had been crying probably about Mrs Black's screaming or the wand pointed at them. Something in her felt very familiar but he didn't know why. Her puffy eyes stopped crying when she noticed that nobody was shouting and they fixed on Mrs Weasley with an astonished expression.

"Granma?" she said trying to sniff normally. Traces of a hopeful smile were drawn on her face.

"Em.. I'm sorry dear I think you're lost. I'm not your granma." Mrs Weasley came out with the best motherly tone she had.

"Yes you are." the girl answered with an almost angry tone. She was pretty cute, Harry felt the desire to protect her.

A boy with glasses and a bushy haired girl took the chance to whisper to each other furiously.

CRACK.

"What is happening here? we heard all the commotion!" said one of the twins as they apparated on the stairway.

"These kids appeared here and they are calling your mother Granma" Sirius seemed to be explaining that to himself also.

The twins' faces turned to the intruders with studious eyes.

"I thought that you couldn't just apparate here, isn't the fidelius charm working?" said the other twin. Some of the kids were staring at the identical boys with wide eyes.

"We were wondering the same thing. Maybe we should call Dumbledore." Lupin said.

"What's the fidelius charm?" said the bushy hair girl intrigued. Some of the kids eyes opened waiting for the answer.

"Well, it means that you shouldn't be here if you haven't been told where this place is, kiddo" Sirius answered on his best clarifying tone.

Some of the kids were amazed. "Oh"

"But we know where this place is! we come here every year for a party!" the boy with glasses now spoke.

"Yeah, we come here on Victoire's birthday." said a boy with untidy black hair and green eyes while a redheaded boy nodded.

Now this was weird. The boy with the black hair was almost a clone of Harry when he was a kid. Well almost, this boy didn't have a scar on his forehead neither was he wearing glasses.

When Harry registered the boys' words he was taken aback. Party? Every year? Victoire? This house had been deserted for years of that he was certain. After all the cleaning and creature extermination Harry was sure that no-one could have lived here in a very long time. What were these kids talking about?

Harry noticed that the rest of the hallway occupants were also disconcerted.

"What party?" Harry voiced everybody's question taking a couple of steps forward.

All the kids turned towards him. A huge smile appeared on the face of the little girl with the long red hair as she ran in Harry's direction. Lupin wasn't sure of using his wand against the little girl and Sirius stopped him from trying.

"Daddy!" the little girl shout when she reached Harry.

The silence took over the corridor. Everyone was dumbfounded.

"You have a daughter?" one of the twins said.

She was clinging at Harry's leg pulling from his trousers. "Up!" she said extending her arms while opening and closing the hands repeatedly. She looked happy. In fact Harry could tell that the whole group of kids looked less nervous. He on the other hand was utterly shocked and his mouth opened wide.

Was he supposed to carry this little girl? Strangely, some part of him thought so. Although there was also another part of him that thought "What the heck!?". He looked at everybody's faces.

Mrs Weasley was slightly nodding encouraging him. Harry knew that she didn't know what was happening either but she definitely wanted him to carry the little girl. The rest of the room seemed reluctant.

"Harry, maybe we should wait for Dumbledore." Lupin said cautiously.

"Remus, if this little girl was a Death Eater she had already attacked by now. She's scared." Then she whispered to Harry. "Come on dear, she thinks you're her father you should comfort her while we found her real parents."

"All right, that's enough. who are all of you?" George spoke as Harry lifted the girl very slowly. The little girl was beaming on Harry's arms and he couldn't avoid feeling calmer when he held her.

"You don't know us?" the bushy haired girl asked offended. Fred was taken by surprise with the tone that the girl was using with her.

"Not even a single idea." Fred answered for him.

"There's two of them." a redhead boy said surprised, he was one of the youngest kids but he was very tall for his age.

"Of course there's two of us.." George said.

"we wouldn't want it any other way."

Then the redheaded boy addressed Mrs Weasley. "Granma, I'm hungry." He didn't need to say anything more. Mrs Weasley's features softened smiling at him.

"Well everybody calm down. Let's go to the kitchen to eat something. Remus you can inform Dumbledore of this, hopefully he would know what is happening. If the wards are failing we need to do something about it." she said leading them to the kitchen.

"Yeay!" most of the kids yelled at the mention of food. They were hungry.

When Mrs Weasley walked by Harry she addressed the little girl. "And what would your name be, dear?"

"Granma! you know that I'm Lily" she said grinning and Harry's mouth opened a bit.

"Of course I do." Mrs Weasley said with a smile and heading to the kitchen.

Lily? Well, that would made sense if she was his daughter. He could definitely name his daughter Lily. But she wasn't her daughter, he just met her, this was very weird.

Mrs Weasley thought that it was alright to serve breakfast without waiting for the rest of the people. The kids did look hungry. They didn't talk much during the breakfast and most of their conversation was about how ugly this place was now or about the screaming lady portrait that they didn't know about. Everyone else was looking at them with curiosity.

Albus Dumbledore didn't took much time to answer the call. When he showed up he listened thoughtfully to the story about the children. Sirius, Professor Lupin and Mrs Weasley were filling him with all the details, at the same time the headmaster was throwing some deep looks to each kid.

"So children, I think I have a theory of who may you be. Still, at these dark times we need to be sure." he took a small vial from his robes and showed it to them. "Do you know what this is?"

The kids shook their heads.

"Albus, you're not thinking of.. they're just kids" Mrs Weasley was scandalized.

"I think it is the fastest way and unfortunately it is necessary."

"That's veritaserum!" Harry said surprised looking at the transparent liquid. Did the headmaster intended to use it on a child?

"The truth serum!" said the bushy haired girl who was named Rose.

"Indeed, this is veritaserum. You seem pretty informed young girl." Dumbledore said. "I'll need one of you to take it. I promise it won't hurt and that we'll only ask what is strictly required."

After a short silence the oldest boy, James, stepped forward. "I'll do it."

Three drops later all the people were seated expectantly in front of the boy. Harry refused to go away. The kids cried or got nervous without Harry so the headmaster convinced Molly that it was unlikely that these kids held information about the Order deeds and Harry stayed. Since Harry was staying there was no reason to leave the twins out.

Now he could see at James in more detail. He had brown chocolate eyes, the same as Lily and he was thin. The hair color was a very reddish tone of brown and he had a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. In other words he had very similar looks to Harry's father that was also named James. This was getting odder by each second.

"What is your name?" Dumbledore asked after

"James Sirius Potter" he said. Sirius opened his eyes with great interest.

"How old are you?"

"Eight, I'll be nine on February 3rd."

"Is Harry James Potter your father?" Everyone on the room leaned forward holding a breath except the mysterious kids and Dumbledore.

"Yes" Many mouths dropped open. Many eyes fixed on Harry analyzing him, doing the math.

"WHAT!? That's not possible, I was only six or seven when he was born!" Harry yelled. The children were confused. Lily cried on Harry's lap.

"Sorry Lily" Harry calmed down trying to make her feel better "I won't yell again. I promise it."

When all the kids were settled the professor continued.

"In what year do you think we are?"

"2012"

A dense silence dropped over the room. There were gasps and loud whispers. "..the future" someone voiced.

The future. He was perplexed. Was it possible that this group of kids had traveled back in time?

As he assimilated that, all began to make more sense, these kids were from the future where it was possible for him to have kids. Lily was really her daughter and James was really his son. James and Lily, those really sounded like names he would use for his kids. Even Sirius. Harry had some pictures of his father and this James resembled him a lot. There were even some small traces of his mother on Lily.

Al, the little clone of Harry, was his son also. It was all clear now. Al even had his mother's eyes. No scar, no glasses. He was not a clone he was his son.

"Err.. Thanks Harry. I'm honored." Sirius said. Harry came out of his trance, his eyes moved from his future sons and daughter to where Sirius was. "But you do realize that that name will turn your kid into a prankster instantly from the moment he's born, right?" Sirius was grinning while Mrs Weasley frowned.

"Well.." Harry answered honestly once he knew of what he was talking about. "you have been the closest thing to a father I have ever had. Why shouldn't I name him after you?" Sirius beamed at this.

Everyone started to calm down. This was awkward but it was a much more pleasant surprise than Death Eaters in disguise.

Dumbledore let the news settle, then he continued. "Are all of you Potters?"

"No. only me, Albus and Lily. Rose and Hugo are Weasleys." James said. A big unexpected smile appeared on the headmaster face for a second. He never turned to face Harry.

The Weasleys were delighted trying to find out who the parents of the kids were. Mrs Weasley was beaming seeing at her two newfound grandkids. Lily had only called her that in an honorary title, Harry was sure of that.

"So who were their parents? Hugo was definitely Ron's son. He was a redheaded boy with blue eyes and freckles all over his face, that was an easy guess. It was obvious that Ron's son would hang out with his kids." Harry thought. "One of them may even be the godfather of the other one's kid." That was a happy thought.

So, he had three kids. He was married. Who was his wife? None of the kids looked like Cho. He let out a sigh in disappointment. His eyes landed on the girl on his lap and he couldn't avoid a smile. He was the father of this little girl also and she seemed to like him. He stared at her trying to register all of her facial features like this was the only good thing on his life. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing not be married to Cho after all.

Then he worried again, Was he a good father? He didn't know how to be a good father, he didn't grew with one. The closest thing to a fatherly figure he had ever saw was Mr Weasley. Sirius was definitely not a good role model in the father department. Apparently Harry wasn't as good as Mr Weasley, after all his children were sent back in time all alone. His future wife was surely going to kill him. "I am a lousy father" he thought lowering his eyes.

"How did you get here?" Dumbledore continued.

"We were playing on Dad's office and we were seeing all of his photos and stuff from his awesome adventures when he was young."

Adventures. Well maybe all of his life-risking situations will make great stories one day.

"We were saying how much we would have liked to be there and have those adventures.." James continued.

"I wasn't, It was only you! This is all your fault!" Rose yelled at him crossing her arms and looking away, Harry got a familiar feeling looking at her doing that as if he had saw her before.

James on the other hand didn't seem to hear Rose. "..then, this blue light came from Dad's desk. It came from a black mask that Dad had just brought from work that day. So I tried it on and a big flash surrounded the room. The next thing I knew was that Rose, Hugo, Al, Lily and me were here at Grimmauld Place but it is much more creepier than I remember."

"And there's an old lady screaming there." Lily said with a scared tone pointing to the hallway trying to warn everybody about Mrs Black's portrait.

Great. It was Harry's fault. How could he let his dangerous office opened for some kids to play in? Why did he left that awful mask in sight? Why did he have it in the first place?

"Yes! the old hag is gone." Sirius said in joy. "There is a spell to take her out of that wall."

Understanding came to everybody in the room. There was no doubt now that these kids came truly from the future.

They needed to send them back and soon. How? he wasn't sure. He wished that Hermione had woken up already, she might know what to do.

They didn't belong here. They could even affect time with horrible consequences. "Bad things happen to wizards who meddle with time." Hermione had said once.

Surely their parents on the future will be missing them, his future self - This was so awkward - will be missing them. Besides there was a war here, it wasn't safe ...

"Wait!" All of those thoughts suddenly stopped. There was a more important question that hasn't been answered.

"We won? I mean there is no war on the future?" It seemed possible now. He was alive and with kids, how could that be possible if Voldemort was still alive?

Everybody in the room was eager to know that answer. Mrs Weasley didn't even reprimanded Harry for interrupting Professor Dumbledore.

"There is no war. But there was one when you were young." James said.

"You beat some big bad guy many years ago" Al said.

The silence covered the kitchen. They won. Voldemort was gone. Harry defeated him? How did that happened? Harry didn't even believe that was possible before meeting these kids. This future was perfect.

"I believe that's enough information for now." Dumbledore said giving the antidote to James. "I think we all agree that we can trust these kids."

Everybody nod.

"Children," Dumbledore said facing the kids. "You are not from around here. You are from our future, you haven't been born yet. I will be trying to send you back to your time but you will have to stay here for a while. It is the safest place for you. These people.." he said pointing to the everybody in the room. ".. are your family. Even when they don't know you, they are still the younger versions of the people you know. They will protect you no matter what."

Lily and Hugo didn't seem to fully understand that but they nodded either way. Rose was the only one that didn't appeared to be surprised.

Then he caught James eyes. "James, I will need you to draw for me that mask and any other thing you remember about it."

When he raised himself he addressed Mrs Weasley. "Molly I think I don't have to ask you to take care of these kids. You all should know that when I send them to their time all of our memories will have to be erased to avoid compromising that wonderful future. Even so future knowledge could be overwhelming so please be careful in what you ask to these children. I'll be leaving now, every moment that passes is crucial in this situation."

"Of course we'll take care of them! we are their family." Mrs Weasley said with the first sincere smile Harry had saw in her since he arrived at Grimmauld Place. Everybody else just nodded.

When Albus Dumbledore was gone with the drawing that James made, Harry realized that the headmaster didn't addressed him or even looked at him the entire time.

The portrait had its chance to yell again when Tonks arrived. When Remus explained her the situation she got shocked but in no-time she was laughing and playing with the kids.

After a moment everybody focused on the newcomers with great joy. Remus and Sirius were talking effusively to James who seemed fascinated. Hugo was still eating without looking away from the twins, he was already in his second plate. Rose was talking very warmly with Mrs Weasley. Tonks was making faces for Al and Lily who was still happily seated on Harry's lap, both of them were laughing out loud and Lily was clapping. "She's like Teddy!" she said when Tonks made her mouth look like a bird's peak. Harry didn't knew who Teddy was, but he thought he might be a metamorphmagus from the future.

Meanwhile Harry was in deep thought. He liked to have these kids here and know about the brilliant future that was waiting for them but he also was worried of what may happen if they couldn't find a way to return them to their time. That could affect the future and even his children, he didn't want these innocent kids in the middle of a war.

He tried to feel positive. Dumbledore was acting strange but he was a great wizard. He would find a way to send them back. As he relaxed he went back to wonder about his future wife. When Ron entered the kitchen he had decided to ask Lily about her mother.

"What was all that noise about?" Ron said, then he noticed the kids. "Bloody hell! is the Order getting funds with a daycare?"

"RON! language! there are children in here!" Mrs Weasley shouted.

"Did you..?" Fred said turning to George.

"Yes I did"

"I cannot believe it.."

"Did he just..?" now both twins were wearing disbelief expressions.

"Yeah our little brother is joking" George continued.

"Is Ickle Ronnie feeling all right?"

"Oh Shut up!" Ron yelled at them.

It was then that Hugo approached very slowly to where Ron was standing. He pulled from his trousers and Ron turned his sight down to see him. Hugo extended his arms without raising his face.

Ron's face was worth a million galleons.

"Well, seems like Ickle Ronnie have managed to reproduce."

"..it seems so my dear brother" Fred said.

Rose glared at the twins. Could Rose be Ron's daughter? It was possible but she didn't look very much like Ron except for the red hair, the blue eyes and the freckles. Actually she looked like.. Harry's gaped.

"What?" Ron said with Hugo still pulling from him.

"Ron, these kids are from the future. They arrived a couple of hours ago. We are taking care of them while Dumbledore manages to send them back to their own time." Mrs Weasley paused briefly. "Hugo there, is your son." she said smiling while pointing at the redheaded boy by Ron's side. Harry was sure that Mrs Weasley know exactly who the parents of the kids were and much more things, after all she had been talking with Rose.

Ron lowered his face with the mouth opened and caught a glimpse of Hugo nodding.

"WHAT THE..!"

"RONALD!"

"You are joking right?" Ron said looking at the twins.

"Nope, we are as puzzled as you are.." Fred said.

"not sure who would be so dumb to marry you." George smirked.

Ron was about to say something when Rose's voice was heard. "Hey!" Judging by that reaction it was very likely that Rose was also Ron's daughter and if Harry's suspicions were correct then her mother was not dumb at all.

"Well, looks like Ickle mini Ronnie has a sister"

"seems so, my brother."

"Leave them alone!" Rose shouted and the twins incredibly flinched at the yells from the six year old.

Ron was stunned looking at Rose who was slightly embarrassed noticing her younger father's attention. Then he looked back when Hugo started pulling from him again, he was frowning because Ron wasn't paying attention to him.

"Err .. Hi" Ron said awkwardly.

"He wants you to carry him." Tonks said.

"Eh.. well"

"Come on Ron, he won't bite. That's just me." Sirius said with a grin.

Ron snorted at Sirius and slowly picked Hugo up. "Very funny" he sarcastically said to Sirius. Hugo smiled and let his head rest on Ron's shoulder.

"Oh well." Ron said clearly confused.

"Come on Ron, breakfast is ready." his mother said.

Ron hurried to a seat next to Harry carrying Hugo with him.

"So.. you have one too." Ron asked Harry noticing Lily.

"Yeah" Harry said with a weak smile. "Her name is Lily."

"Morning, uncle Ron!" Lily said from Harry's lap.

"Eh Hi." he answered.

"Those two also." Harry said pointing at Al and James.

Ron looked at them and laughed for the first time since he arrived.

"What's so funny?" Harry said.

"You couldn't hide those even if you tried to" Ron said making Lupin and Sirius laugh.

"Specially that one." Lupin said to a giggling Sirius while pointing at Al who was still talking to Tonks. Harry joined the laughs.

"What's so funny?" a voice came from the door while Mrs Weasley put a plate in front of Ron.

Hermione and Ginny were walking through the kitchen's door. Hugo smiled when he saw them, Rose opened up her mouth.

"Good morning dear. Good morning Hermione" Mrs Weasley said. Lily that had turned her head rapidly when she heard Ginny, stood away from Harry's lap and ran to the door stumbling.

"Mummy!" she said as she clung to Ginny's leg.

* * *

**Thanks to _strangeways_ for some useful grammar corrections he made to the chapter.**


	3. Ginny's New Family

**GINNY**

* * *

The chocolate brown eyes had followed the little girl as she approached stumbling.

"Mummy!" she had said clinging to her leg with a hopeful smile.

The little girl was now looking straight at Ginny from below with sparkling eyes. She had a long red mane and a huge smile painted on her face. She was a very cute girl.

When the girl had spoken, the smile on Ginny disappeared as her mouth opened slightly. Then she redirected her sight to the people on the kitchen trying to decipher what was happening.

"I knew it!" Sirius yelled.

Her mother who was standing by the stove, had one hand over her chest and she was beaming. Ginny noticed another unfamiliar girl sitting close to her mother, she had a red bushy hair and her blue eyes highlighted her amazement expression. Next to the girl the twins were looking at Ginny with serious faces, they turned to face each other and then to Ginny again. On the furthest end of the table, Professor Lupin and Sirius Black were watching her, they were smiling widely; a boy was also standing by their side but his back was towards Ginny so he hadn't noticed her yet. Across from the twins, Ron was holding a miniature copy of himself, Ron was obviously in deep thinking while the little boy was grinning. Harry was next to Ron and he had the strangest reaction of them all, he was just staring at her with his mouth fully open. Ginny was uncertain of what could have caused that reaction. Tonks was the last one there, she was simply smiling and waving while a black untidy hair peeked behind her. Probably another kid.

At Ginny's silent question her mother spoke to her with a smile still on her lips. "Ginny dear, these kids.." she made a hand gesture so Ginny could notice all the kids. ".. came today. They're from the future."

"What?!" Ginny and Hermione said in unison.

"It is true. Dumbledore was here and we questioned James .." Professor Lupin ruffled the hair of the older boy how had just turned to face Ginny with a wide smile. "with Veritaserum." he said

Ginny stood there looking at the boy with wide eyes while Hermione walked towards them voicing her questions. When she made the connection of her mother's words with the girl that greeted her, Ginny's eyes traveled back to the little girl clinging to her leg. Her daughter. She wasn't smiling anymore, she was confused and the spark on her eyes was no longer there.

"Mummy?" the girl said.

Something felt awfully wrong on Ginny about hurting this little girl so Ginny's face relaxed and she knelt in front of her as Hermione kept asking a bunch of questions about time turners and weird masks. She smiled at the girl and stroke her hair.

"Yes?" she muttered with some difficulty.

"Are you ok?"

"Sure I am.. sweetheart."

The little girl was smiling again which filled Ginny of an unexplainable warm feeling. The girl then rushed to Ginny and gave her a big hug. Ginny was surprised at first but then she smiled again and hugged her back. After a few seconds she stood up with the little girl in her arms.

Ginny met Hermione's eyes on her way up and she gave her a "How crazy is this?" look. Now that Ginny had calmed down a question appeared on her mind, who was the father of this little girl? She couldn't figure it out. When she studied the girl's face she noticed that she was pretty much a younger version of herself, that made her smile but didn't gave her any clue about the father.

Then an unexpected question came to her "Who was James' mother?" It was an easy guess that he was Harry's son, he was basically a younger version of Harry with brown reddish hair and brown eyes. Ginny didn't know why she was thinking about that, she had convinced herself to give up on Harry. "Was she jealous?" she thought. She forced herself to focus on her own kid that was in her arms.

The reactions on the kitchen were settling except for her mother, Ron and oddly enough, Harry. Her mother was still beaming when she returned her attention to the stove. Ron was frowning at Harry like deciding if he should open his mouth. Harry on the other hand, was utterly shocked. Ginny thought that this was because of his own kid.

Ginny was deciding if she should ask the girl about her father. She did want to know but she didn't want her brothers screaming and retaliating against the boy. "It could be Michael." the thought appeared unconsciously on Ginny's head. Her brothers didn't know about her boyfriend and they didn't need to just yet. Instead, she asked her something more obvious. "So what's the beautiful name I gave to you?"

"Lily!" the girl really liked her name.

Ginny started to walk towards the table carrying Lily. Since Ginny was a girl of short stature that was not an easy task, she was just turning fourteen the next day.

She wanted to know more about her daughter so she decided to continue with the name and then ask about her age. "Is that all? do you have a second name?"

"Yes I have one, you gave it to me!" Lily was completely happy on Ginny's arms. "My name is Lily Luna Potter!" she yelled the last part with a very happy and proud tone.

Ginny froze half way to the table.

"P-P-Potter?" Ginny asked shyly.

That couldn't be true, Harry didn't even notice her. She had gave up on Harry. Ginny didn't knew what she was supposed to feel about that. "It's a dream, it's a dream" she repeated to herself "Don't get your hopes up. Wait! Hopes up? What I am talking about? I gave up on him!"

The smile on Lily didn't disappear, she nodded rapidly. "Yes! Like in daddy!" She said pointing at the other side of the table. Ginny forced herself to follow Lily's finger because she knew who she was going to find there and she wanted to see him with her own eyes. There at the other side of the table, was Harry Potter blushing at her. The world was upside down.

She remembered Ron frowning at Harry a moment before and Harry's shocked expression. It all made sense but it couldn't be true. Even Lily's name, Harry's mother was named Lily. Was Luna because of Loony Lovegood? that Ravenclaw girl in her classes? She didn't know any other Luna, maybe they were more close in the future.

"Why did we stopped, mummy?" Lily said. "Mummy, you are red!"

Perfect! Surely she was completely red. Why now? She was just beginning to talk in front of Harry, she didn't even blush that much around him anymore, and now she had to be made evident by her newfound daughter.

"I'm .. ok" Ginny said as she resumed her way very slowly to where the twins were seated as if nothing had happened.

"Mummy! aren't we going to sit with daddy?" Lily was determined to make Ginny feel embarrassed.

"Err.." Ginny said. On her mind she was lamenting herself of her sudden loss of eloquence. "Really? That was all I could say?" she thought.

She caught a glance of Harry. He was still red and looking down at the table. Would he like to seat with her? Instinctively she looked away, her eyes landed on Hermione who was beaming and smiling as wide as possible.

"Ron dear, could you trade places with your sister?" her mom said on a calm voice.

"HECK NOT! WHY SHOULD I?.." Ron finally erupted. He lowered the little redhead boy on his lap so he could stand up and point to Harry "..HE IS HOOKING UP WITH GINNY!"

Ginny turned even redder, she wanted to say something to him but she just couldn't find the words, she was still pretty much stuck in the whole 'I have a daughter with Harry' thought.

"RON! We have children here!" her mother yelled.

"I'm..not" Harry was shocked and he didn't knew how to answer but he was offended at Ron's accusation.

"Well you do have three kids together.."

"..we have evidence!" Fred finished.

Three kids. Ginny turned to James and gaped. James was her son. The reddish on his hair, the freckles and the brown eyes that was all Ginny's. James winked at her and Ginny's mouth drop open.

But, who was the third? Ginny's eyes moved quickly through the kids and stopped at the boy with black untidy hair who was standing by Tonks. She hadn't paid attention to him previously but now she could tell that he was almost an exact copy of Harry. The boy was looking at her very excited. Ginny smiled.

"I.. that hasn't happen yet!" Harry said to the twins.

Ginny heard clearly the 'yet' coming out of Harry's mouth. They were going to date in the future, they were going to have three kids. She couldn't fool herself, as shocking as it was, this was the future that she wanted.

"Uncle Ron! you shouldn't yell at daddy! he is your best friend!" Lily was frowning at Ron.

Ron was dumbfounded and he clearly didn't knew how to answer to his niece.

"I.. HE IS NOT MY BEST FRIEND! BEST FRIENDS DON'T GO AROUND HOOKING UP WITH THEIR BEST FRIEND'S SISTERS! HE'S A PRAT!" the little redheaded boy had walked away from Ron to hid behind Hermione. Hermione was so furious that she didn't even noticed the boy behind her. The bushy haired girl was not looking less angrier.

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY! THERE ARE KIDS IN HERE AND HARRY HASN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG! HE IS A GOOD BOY AND AS GOOD AS A SON FOR ME!" the voice of Ginny's mother thundered in the kitchen. Professor Lupin and Sirius remained silent trying to look away, they knew better than to intervene in the current flow of the conversation.

Harry was looking surprised. It was obvious that he didn't expect to be addressed as a son at this moment. Ginny knew that the life with his relatives had been hard and she was very happy to be able to give him a family now. "A family!" Ginny thought "I'm Harry's family now!?" her cheeks were getting redder with each new discovery.

Ron hesitated for a moment.

"But.. YOU'RE ON HIS SIDE!? THAT'S GINNY AND HE KNOCKED HER UP!" Ginny finally focused on Ron at those words. He had gone too far, if Ginny hadn't been busy holding Lily, she would've hex him already.

"RON! Shut up you prat!" Ginny shouted. "We haven't done anything! leave him alone!" Harry turned to look at her very surprised of the way she yelled at her brother.

"But you will.." Fred said

"..Three times!" At this Ginny turned bright red again. The twins were right but she didn't want to think about that now, she had to keep focusing on Ron.

"Fred! George!" Ginny's mom yelled. "You're not helping!"

Ron just glared at his brothers. He then took a deep breath turning his eyes at Harry. Ginny handed the girl to her mother and rushed to where Ron was about to yell at Harry again.

"DO YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN JUST..." Ron didn't got to finish the sentence.

"Ron! you jerk.." Ginny started as she was half way to where her brother was but her voice was overshadowed.

"RON!"

"DAD!"

Ginny was startled by the shouting that came from behind her. Hermione and the bushy haired girl had finally exploded holding identical frowns. Ron flinched. Everybody turned to see the girls and then it became clear to Ginny. The bushy haired girl was a little redheaded version of Hermione.

When Hermione yelled, the boy behind her had ran towards Ginny's mother who was now rubbing his back while holding Lily on her arms. Hermione had turned to see at the girl who had just called Ron "Dad" obviously stunned.

Ron on the other hand was starting to recover from his shock. He opened his mouth weakly but he was stopped again.

"You're Hermione's daughter!" Harry yelled pointing at the little girl causing a gaping Ron to turn at her.

"Of course I am!" the girl said.


	4. Dangerous Information

**Hermione**

* * *

Hermione was caught by those blue eyes and she was sure that she had seen them before. But was it true? Was this her daughter? She couldn't believe how much the girl looked like her, even the big and bushy hair was there.

The girl spoke then. "Of course I am!" Hermione gapped.

According to everybody in the room these kids were time travelers, Professor Lupin even said that Dumbledore was convinced of that. All pointed out that the girl was really her daughter. Still she was having a hard time trying to believe it herself, it was an obvious thing that if Harry and Ginny had kids in the future she or Ron could have kids also but it was just so incredible and she didn't know what to think.

She tried to think clearly, she was good at it. "Ok, then Harry had three kids - three kids with Ginny, Merlin! she must be ecstatic - and this little girl was apparently her daughter, it was a sure thing that her daughter would hang out with Harry's kids. So that would leave the little redheaded boy who had to be.." Hermione's thoughts were cut off suddenly by Ron's hurried voice.

"But,but,.. I thought you said you were my daughter." he barely managed to speak.

Hermione's mouth dropped open.

"My dear brother, you do know that two people are required.." she heard one of the twins say.

"..for the arduous task of making babies, do you?" Sirius broke in laughter from the end of the table. Hermione went bright red, she did know what had to happen in order for these kids to exist but the idea was unthinkable. And with Ron.. Hermione was even redder.

When Ron didn't answered they continued. "I guess he doesn't know.."

Ron was dumbfounded.

"..we could explain to Ickle Ronnie the basics, he is our brother after all."

"I could help!" Sirius yelled laughing. "Auch!" Professor Lupin elbowed him.

"Impossible!" Hermione said finally, she was still blushing violently from the twins' comments. This had to be a joke, how could she look at Ron that way after what he did in last year's Yule Ball? Yes for some odd reason she wanted him to go with her at the beginning but he acted like a prat. Like he acted a few moments ago. He was a good friend but he was unable to speak to a girl as a girl and not as a buddy.

"Well it is possible and should I say very likely. She is almost identical to you Hermione" Professor Lupin spoke with a grin, Sirius was still laughing.

Hermione was taken out of her daze when the girl spoke again. "Hi mum, I'm Rose." the girl said turning to her. "And the boy holding grandma's leg is my brother Hugo." Was this girl introducing herself to who she thought was her mother? Did she knew something about the time travel?

Hermione was distracted as her eyes fixed on the girl. Rose, she had always thought that was a beautiful name. After looking at the girl again she discovered where she had seen those eyes. They were Ron's blue eyes. She had red hair also, and freckles.. that girl was a Weasley it was clear now. It was Hermione's daughter without doubt but she was a Weasley too. She was Ron's daughter.

Then she looked at the little boy, Hugo. She was right on her initial thoughts, this was Ron's son but he also was hers and he was afraid. He was afraid because of the stupid outburst that his prat of a father had made. As confused as she was she knew she was worried about this little boy. Her son.

"Hey Ron! Congratulations!" Tonks said.

"I..,I.." Sirius and Professor Lupin were smirking and she could tell that was because of the reaction that Ron was surely having.

"Blimey!" Ron finally managed to say and Hermione heard a thud. She turned quickly to where Ron was but it appeared that he had only dropped himself on his chair.

When Ron went silent all the commotion stopped.

"Rose sweetheart, could you go and get your father to this side of the table?" Mrs Weasley said warmly to Rose.

"Rose was Mrs Weasley's granddaughter." Hermione thought. "What would she think of her now? Was she good enough for her youngest son?" Hermione was surprised by those thoughts.

Rose nodded to Mrs Weasley and Hermione saw the little girl dragging a stunned Ron all the way to where she was. She didn't want to talk to Ron. She was still very mad at him, and besides she wouldn't know what to say. Ron looked at her when Rose brought him but Hermione looked away from him. Ron took a seat next to the twins and Rose seated on the other side of Ron.

Hermione then remembered her little frightened son, Hugo. She turned to where the boy was and she knelt, she wanted him to calm down. As uncommon as it was she decided to find answers later, right at that moment the boy was more important than explanations for Hermione and that was a first. "Hi.. it's Hugo right?" Hugo nodded.

"Your dad sometimes yells and acts like a complete prat but he is not mad at you." It took a very hard effort for Hermione to call Ron 'his dad' when she knew that she was Hugo's mother.

"I know" Hugo said.

"Do you want to sit at the table with me?" Hermione said.

"Yes!" and the boy hugged her. She took him on her arms and then she muttered on Ginny's direction "I have a kid" Hermione was still pretty much in shock but she wanted to get to know that little boy. She was surprised to find herself smiling.

She sat next to Rose putting Hugo on her lap. She didn't look at Ron.

"You're in trouble" Rose whispered to Ron.

"Can you help me?" Ron's frightening voice came to her ears but she pretended not to hear it.

Hermione caught a glimpse of Rose shaking her head. "You're doomed".

It was nice to know that Rose was not on Ron's side, it would be weird to have a little Ron on her side and a copy of herself arguing against her.

"Do you want to eat with your mother?"

"No grandma, I already ate with daddy" Lily - Ginny's newfound daughter - said "Can I go sit with them?"

"Of course, honey" Hermione heard her tiny footsteps and when she raised her eyes she saw the little girl dragging a shocked Ginny towards Harry. Hermione couldn't help a small smirk.

"Err. Hi" Ginny said, she was blushing. Hermione's thoughts went back to her, what would she be feeling right now? Hermione was almost certain that she still had very strong feelings for Harry. The best thing would be that she didn't have high hopes for the moment, as far as she knew Harry didn't like her as that yet.

"Hi" Harry answered and both tried to look on a different direction while Ginny was sitting down.

"So Harrykins, what are your intentions with our little sister?" Ginny glared at Fred's question.

"FRED!"

"I'm not dating her .. yet." Harry added the last part looking at Ginny. They both went very red at that.

Was Harry considering dating Ginny? Hermione saw an unconscious smile on Ginny's face and she got worried. She might have high hopes already. Hermione didn't want her to get hurt again, they were good friends. After a lot of time and sadness, Ginny had finally decided to let go of Harry and if this went wrong it could bring all that back for her.

"But you will" George added pointing at the kids.

"In that case, I'll tell you then."

"Fair enough."

"So Rosie, is your father a prat this often?" Fred asked the girl. That question caught Hermione's attention.

Rose was nodding. "But mum always fixes him!" Many laughs were heard. Hermione was thinking what to made of that. It appeared as she had a hard time dealing with Ron in the future, they were going to keep arguing even after they got married. Hermione felt herself blush at the thought of she marrying Ron. Where did that came from?

Professor Lupin, Sirius and the twins started asking all kinds of things to Rose. She was having fun giving answers to them but for what Hermione caught of the conversation Ron was surely not liking the chat. Hermione tried to focus on the boy on her lap.

"Hugo, did you ate already?" Hugo nod.

A minute later the boy talked to her with a sad expression. "You're mad at dad, right?"

Hermione didn't know how to answer. "We'll be fine"

"Yeah I know, but I don't like it when you are mad."

Hermione's heart shrank. Usually she would just ignore Ron but Hugo's sadness was hurting her. "I'll talk to him after breakfast and we'll be fine again. It's that good for you?"

Hugo nod with a light smile.

"Ok, I'll fix him." She smiled at him using Rose's words. "Could she really fix him?" she thought.

Everybody was happier now. An almost identical copy of Harry was talking to Ginny, one more of her kids apparently. From Hugo's words Hermione found that his name was Albus which made a lot of sense. Lily was still beaming on Harry's lap, once in a while Tonks joined them with a funny transformation. The kids loved that, even Hugo looked at her with a big smile. The other Potter boy - James, according to Hugo - went to talk to Ginny and Harry also.

Hermione kept watching Ginny once in a while looking for signs that could tell her how was she taking everything and soon it was clear that the redheaded was starting to enjoy the kids. It was very weird to see Albus hugging Ginny with such a great affection, he looked so much like his father that it was almost as if Harry was hugging her by himself.

"So who likes Quidditch?" George asked to the whole table.

"Me. I want to be a chaser!" James yelled the loudest.

Hermione was startled when Hugo shout too. She was not surprised considering that Ron was his father but she hoped that they were good at classes also. Then she realized that they were not at Hogwarts yet.

"A chaser?" Harry asked puzzled. He obviously expected him to be a seeker.

"Sure, like granddad Potter and mum!"

"Well, Ginny gets to play Quidditch." Hermione thought. She knew that she had been practicing it since she was very young.

"Like me?" Ginny asked very surprised.

"Yes. You were a HolyHead Arpy! you know great moves!" James said smiling with a proud tone, mouths fell open at these words.

"I.. I was?" All the kids nodded even Hugo.

"Ginny does not play"

"She does." Hermione intervened. "She's been breaking into your broom shed since six" she said on her best casual voice, smirking mentally at Ginny's brothers reaction.

"Wow. Then we should tell the new captain. You could try for the team.." Fred said

"..yeah, he or she won't want to lose the chance of having a pro."

"I'm not a pro yet!" Ginny answered smiling.

"You're surely good enough for the House team right now." Harry said smiling.

"Thanks" Ginny said blushing. Hermione looked at her raising her eyebrow.

"I want to be a keeper.. or a chaser maybe, I don't think I have a keeper's body." Rose said sadly.

"What! you like Quidditch? I thought you were like Hermione? Don't you like reading?" Harry asked.

Hermione frowned at him for teasing them but she was certainly puzzled. Was this girl like her father? She hoped that Rose did like reading otherwise she would be alone and surrounded by a Quidditch-lover family.

"I do, but I also like Quidditch." Hermione sighed. Rose was a weird combination of Ron and herself.

Everybody laughed.

"I want to be a keeper also!" Ron spoke for the first time after the outburst, close to hugging his daughter. Only Ron. Minutes before he was completely shocked of having kids and now he didn't care as long as they liked Quidditch.

"You were" Rose said.

"I was?!" Ron's voice sounded very happy. "When?"

Hugo shrugged. "When you were young."

"But.. I am young. Do I get to play this year?" Ron was very eager to hear the answer.

"Don't know. I don't remember the year. Which year is this?" Rose asked. Hermione was surprised, this girl was very observant she already knew that they were on the past or at least she was suspecting it. James - Harry's oldest son - was also raising an eyebrow and Hermione caught Albus surprised by the question. Lily and Hugo didn't care or they didn't show it.

"1995" Hermione answered.

"Is this Umbridge's year then? Or is it MadEye's? We know some stories" James spoke now. Hermione considered this for a moment, they surely will know about their pasts and their futures but too much information could mess the timeline. Even so she didn't know what to say, either way their memories were going to be erased when the kids left. But what would happen if something really bad happens in the future and someone doesn't want his or her memories erased? It might be better not to know at all.

"Who is Umbridge?" Fred asked getting Hermione's attention again.

"The teacher. The one that was mean to daddy!" Lily frowned. That surprised everybody. Sirius was ready to make a lot of questions but Ginny spoke first.

"Mean?" Ginny asked intrigued.

"She said bad things of dad and gave him the scar" Albus said frightened and Hermione opened her mouth in shock. Hermione didn't like the way that this was heading, this was the kind of things that people would want to change.

"WHAT!?" Mrs Weasley yelled. "A teacher gives Harry a scar? How? Where?"

"Some letters, on his hand" said Lily rubbing her left hand as it hurt.

"A blood quill!? outrageous!" Professor Lupin yelled this time, he almost never raised his voice. Hermione understood his reaction, she guessed what was happening and her eyes were opened wide. She couldn't believe it.

"What do the letters said?" Tonks asked grimly.

"I must not tell lies" James said slowly.

Hermione was about to explode. She was very angry, she could almost feel her face getting hotter. Who was this woman and how was she able to teach?

"WHAT!? THAT BITCH!" Ginny's voice echoed above all the other yells. A very stunned Hermione looked at her, she couldn't believe that she was the one that had spoken.

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY! What kind of language is that? your kids are here! Merlin! Behave!"

"Sorry mum" Ginny lowered her sight, her cheeks were red. Harry's eyes were set on her as he couldn't believe her reaction but then he turned to look at his hand, scratching it. It must be very troubling for him to find about something like that.

"So? What happened to the bitch?" Sirius growled after a moment.

Hermione frowned at Sirius, Mrs Weasley was right and she didn't want Hugo hearing those kinds of stuff. Hermione would've said something to him but she knew that she didn't have to since Mrs Weasley would do it for her.

"SIRIUS! THERE ARE KIDS IN HERE!"

"Sorry Molly, but they are old enough for.."

"FOR WHAT? Lily and Hugo are barely four!"

"Yeah! but they do live with Ron or Ginny" he replied, Hermione couldn't avoid a small and brief laugh but then she got a bit worried. She was wishing that her kids didn't get all the bad habits that Ron had and of course that included swearing. Then a bigger realization hit her, she was going to live with Ron. Same house, same room, same bed. She turned red again.

"Mum, what is a bitch?" The sudden question from Hugo caught her attention. Hermione's eyes widen. A frown appeared on her face and she glared at Sirius and Ginny. She knew that they didn't meant any harm but they should've been more careful.

Hermione looked at Hugo trying to find the right words. "It's nothing. It's a bad word, you shouldn't say it. Never!" she said to him.

"So kids, do you know what happened to that.. woman?" Mrs Weasley spoke again.

"Uncle Harry caught her and Mum has her in prison" Rose said.

Hermione's mouth opened but before she could ask, Harry spoke to her. "We talked with them earlier. You are doing something on the Law Enforcement Department and ... I'm an Auror." he said.

Hermione was shocked. Law Enforcement, she thought that was a very demanding job and she was interested in knowing what kinds of things they did. She also thought that there were many good Muggle laws that could be applied on the Wizarding World. She smiled.

"Well I think that we shouldn't ask more questions until Dumbledore finds something about this. We could mess the future." Professor Lupin said. Hermione couldn't agree more, they already knew too much.

"Bad things happen to wizards who meddle with time" Hermione thought to herself. "Changing things was not an option, and besides what would happen to Hugo and the rest of the kids if they change something?" She was already getting attached to the little boy and she had only met him some minutes ago.

"Come on Remus, just one more.." Sirius pleaded.

"I think Professor Lupin is right. We could damage this timeline." Hermione said.

Sirius snorted. "You're just not fun" He crossed his arms.

Hermione thought that this was a childish reaction but before she could say something a kid spoke. "You're Teddy's dad?" Albus said pointing at Remus.

"WHAT!? Who is Teddy?" Professor Lupin asked to the boy.

Sirius laughed "What about stop asking things Moony?"

"But.. I'm a werewolf!" Professor Lupin didn't pay attention to Sirius.

"Awesome!" James shout. Hermione raised her eyebrows, how could this kid be so different from Harry?

Sirius laughed louder "This kid is James Potter all over again!"

Professor Lupin was very nervous. "Are you sure I'm his father?"

From the other side of the table Hermione caught Harry whispering at Ginny and they both giggled. What was happening here? it was weird seeing them like that when they barely exchanged words the previous day. She decided that she needed to talk with both of them.

"His second name is Remus as yours. But he is not a werewolf! we saw him on the full moon the other day, he was just cranky." James added.

The professor sighed.

"Can you change your face as him?" Lily asked with a smile. "She can!" Lily pointed at Tonks.

Remus and Tonks stared at each other.

"Is he a metamorphmagus?" Professor Lupin asked.

Rose nodded. "Yes. Mum told me, she said he got it from his mom"

Tonks' gapped. "My dad's name is Ted" she said in a quiet voice. Professor Lupin blushed.

"MOONY! you're family! But.. what's the matter with you?! Tonks is like ten years younger" Sirius barked a laugh.

Tonks was also very red but she managed to ask one more thing. "Are you sure? Do I look like .. Teddy's mother?" she was beaming.

"We wouldn't know.. Teddy's parents died in the war." Rose said grimly.


	5. Anticipated Grief

**HARRY**

* * *

Everyone in the room was dead silent.

"E.. We.. We.. die?" Tonks muttered with the weakest voice she had so Harry barely heard her.

Lupin looked as if a lightning had struck him directly on the chest and Sirius was death frozen. Everybody else had a similar reaction except for the kids.

Remus found his voice and directed it towards the girl who could give him answers. "Rose.. how old is Teddy?.. I mean did he knew his parents?"

Rose seemed nervous of having so many eyes focused on her. "It's ok, you can say the truth." Hermione encouraged her but with no trace of a smile on her face.

"I believe that they died when he was just a month old." the girl said and she then quickly lowered her sight as if she had just said something really bad.

A loud squeal was heard when Tonks, who until that moment was crooking her mouth to hold back the tears, broke apart on Harry's left shoulder.

"My.. baby.." she mumbled.

Harry didn't know what to do so he turned his sight to Hermione. She looked entirely sad but when she realized Harry's silent question she moved her arms as if she was hugging the air. Harry looked at Lily who was ready to cry without knowing why, Ginny extended her hands to Harry to ask him for the girl. When he handed the girl on his lap to Ginny, she gave him a "hurry up" look. Harry then let out a sigh and hugged Tonks with both arms.

Tonks sobbed louder when she felt the comfort of Harry's arms. He heard more sobs coming from the rest of the people in the kitchen and a moment later Lily broke up crying.

"Now, Now.. everything is all right" he heard Ginny say to Lily. He got a glimpse of her cradling the little girl with an insecure look on her face. She was still very confused about the whole "having kids" thing.

Then he heard a backslapping and he supposed that Sirius was hugging Professor Lupin. After Harry got out of his initial shock the sorrow began to take over him. Why did Lupin had to die right after finding the happiness? He wanted to yell to someone but he couldn't, no-one had the fault of these news and he couldn't yell with the kids there. He wanted also to get up, to rush towards Lupin and Sirius but he couldn't leave Tonks. He felt so frustrated.

"We cannot change the timeline Sirius.." Lupin said vaguely.

"WHY NOT!? we can stop this from happening!"

"REMUS!"

Harry jumped on his seat because Tonks stood up quickly when she heard Professor Lupin's voice. When he raised his eyes he caught the sight of a black haired Tonks moving Sirius aside and clinging furiously to Lupin.

"WHY? Why this had to happen to us?"

"I.. I don't know."

Harry stood up.

"Leave them" Ginny whispered to him.

"I'm going with Sirius" he whispered back and she smiled at him still trying to calm down Lily. As strange as it sounded Harry felt much better with that reassuring smile.

Seconds later Harry and Sirius were hugging tightly.

"Life is never fair to the Marauders, pup." Sirius whispered to him after some moments wiping his eyes. "We can do something, right? We can stop this from happening."

Harry's eyes then focused on Al who was standing sadly next to Ginny, she had all of her attention focused on Lily. Harry didn't know how to answer, if they changed the timeline then these kids might not even exist. He didn't want that, these were his kids. Still this didn't seem fair to Lupin.

"I don't know Padfoot.."

Hermione's voice echoed on Harry's mind. "Bad things happen to wizards who meddle with time"

Moments later the atmosphere at the kitchen had lightened up a little. Harry still felt very bad and he wanted to talk to Lupin but he was better with Tonks and he couldn't leave Sirius all alone now.

Professor Lupin then spoke again, he had calmed down also. "I think we all need to get some rest. I only need to know something.." He turned to Rose. "Who takes care of Teddy?"

Harry turned to face Rose wishing very hard that she mentioned his name. He didn't want Lupin to think that he couldn't look up after his boy if he wasn't there anymore.

Rose opened her mouth but James spoke first. "He lives with his Grandma Andy but .."

"Grandma Andy? doesn't he have a Granpa Ted?"

"No, his Grandpa Ted died at the war also."

Tonks sank again in Remus arms sobbing uncontrollably. "..Mum.. all alone.." she mumbled.

"But what about me?" Sirius asked. "Am I watching over Moonslet also?"

"Who are you?" Hugo asked finally.

Everybody turned quieter, even Tonks stop sobbing and raised her sight a bit.

"But.. I'm good old Uncle Padfoot.. Sirius"

"Padfoot? You're Sirius Black? I thought he was dead." Al said which led a new wave of sorrow.

"NOOOO! that can't be true" Harry was now crying out loud on Sirius arms while Lupin buried his head on Tonks' hair. He heard more sobs from the room even from Mrs Weasley, but that didn't matter now. All that mattered to Harry was his own excruciating pain.

"It's not FAIR! you have just got out! you have to live!"

"It's ok, pup. It's ok."

"It is not ok! you can't leave me alone!"

Harry heard Lily's sad voice from the other side of the table. "Why is daddy crying?"

"It's ok, Lily" Ginny's voice came next.

Why was everybody saying that it was ok? It was not ok. Harry just couldn't bear the pain on his heart, he wanted to know how, he wanted to stop it from happening. He wanted to know who would take Sirius away from him. Voldemort? if so Harry was going to go after him, he wasn't going to let him take his family away from him again. He was in deep pain.

"You're the only family I have left! I cannot let you go! You cannot leave me alone again!"

Then Lily started crying again. Harry couldn't comfort anyone now, he was in pieces. "Daddy! we are your family!"

Harry couldn't take this anymore, he was not prepared to be a parent. He was only fifteen, he didn't know how to act. He needed Sirius, he could not give comfort when he needed it himself. Pieces of his spirit were scattered across the floor but he found the strength to turn around. Lily's cries felt very painful to him.

He turned very slowly catching glimpses of a heartbroken Mrs Weasley stroking Al's hair and the twins facing down. Hermione had a very concerned look on her face and Harry knew that she was struggling with herself deciding if she should stand up and hug him. All the anger was away from Ron's face, he look as concerned as Hermione did but on his own particular way. Al was hiding his face behind Mrs Weasley's leg, Rose looked distant and Hugo couldn't explain himself why everybody was crying so much.

When Al turned and looked at him with his moist green eyes Harry jumped back ten years. Suddenly he was seeing himself sitting on his old mattress inside the cupboard, hugging his legs after a beating from his uncle. Harry could almost hear the sobbing and remember his thoughts "Why I'm so alone? Mum..Dad..". He didn't have a family then but he will, in the future. His eyes distinguished Al again, the boy was looking at Harry with very confused eyes. This boy was not Harry, this boy grew up happily with a family. Something inside of him wanted to go with that little copy of himself, he wanted to tell him that everything was all right, that he was always going to have a family. That he was not Harry, that he had not a stupid scar on his forehead.

Sirius voice came from behind him. "Go pup, I'll be ok." Harry turned and with a forced smile he nod.

He walked slowly passing Lupin and Tonk. His former professor patted his back with the weird combination of a smile and red puffy eyes, Tonks also had a weak smile on Lupin's arms. The twins and Ron just remained seated uncertain of what were they supposed to do while Harry knelt besides a smiling Mrs Weasley to where Al was.

"Hi.. how are you feeling?" his voice seemed alien after so many shocks.

"I'm fine" Al said pretending he was ok. Harry extended his arms and Al run the three steps that separated them.

"Everything is all right" he said with a low voice.

Harry calmed down while he was hugging the boy and he raised his sight. Hermione was smiling and gripping her chair, already standing to join them. Harry shook his head in her direction and Hermione returned to her seat surprised.

"Want to go with your mom?" he said.

Albus nod.

Harry stood holding his hand and they started walking to the other side of the table. Hermione was looking at him with her eyes wide open but then she smiled. Harry knew she didn't expect that, after all she was his best friend and Ginny was just starting to talk to him but it just felt like the right thing to do.

At the other side of the table Ginny was holding Lily. The little girl had stopped crying the moment she saw Harry approaching, then he smiled and she smiled him back. At that moment Harry saw the tremendous resemblance she had with another redheaded girl who was clinging to her mother's leg on his first trip to Hogwarts. His green eyes moved automatically to Ginny. She had a slight grin but there was moisture on her chocolate brown eyes and Harry didn't want her to cry.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

Harry smiled. "I'm fine"

Harry knew that Lily wanted a hug but he did not hug Lily, he hugged Ginny surprising her and himself. Lily got caught in the middle of the hug but she didn't complain.

Harry then remembered something and he turned a bit to find Albus and James. Ginny seemed to understand what he was thinking and they both knelt so the five of them could hug.

"You are my family!" Harry said. He was regretting what he had said previously, he had hurt the kids by saying that he had no family. Ginny's eyes widened but she grinned warmly at him.

"You don't forget that." Ginny whispered and only he and the three kids heard her. Harry was surprised but he smiled.

When they broke apart he saw Ron's uncomfortable look. Hermione had turned to face Ron with a smile and then she looked away like remembering that she was mad at him.

Ginny reached Harry's ear and she whispered to him again. "Are you all right?" Harry nod slowly without looking at her.

Sirius then yelled breaking the silence. "Hey! I'm the one dying here and no-one is hugging me!"

Everybody laughed.

"Come kids I want you to meet uncle Padfoot." Harry said taking Lily from Ginny's arms noticing that she was getting tired of the weight. Then they walked towards Sirius, even Ginny was dragged by James.

Harry didn't know what to feel about Ginny. In future he was going to fall in love with her but he barely knew her now. He had a crush on Cho, not like he was going to say that in front of the kids. The kids were another important topic, Harry was not sure about what was going to happen to them. What if they couldn't send them back? He decided not to worry about that yet.

The rest of the time at the kitchen was a bit brighter. On Harry's mind the news about all those deaths - specially Sirius' - was still causing him a great pain but he decided to smile for the kids. At the beginning it was difficult but then he discovered that it made him feel slightly better. Harry noticed that many people on the room were doing the exact same thing even Tonks looked a bit more joyful and her hair had changed to dark brown, she didn't separate from Lupin's side though.

"It has been a tough morning. Why don't we rest and start the cleaning after lunch?"

Everybody agreed gladly.

"Mum" Hugo's voice was heard before anybody could get out of the kitchen. He was pulling from Hermione's sleeve.

"Yes? What's the matter?" Harry noticed how she was still getting used to the whole mother thing.

"I want to go to the loo" he said.

Soon after that Lily yelled from Harry's lap. "Me too!"

"Oh.. well.. the bathroom is.." Harry began.

"I think she wants you to take her." Ginny whispered to him smirking. Harry's eyes expanded in realization.

"I don't think it is safe for her to go there alone dear. Considering the stairs and the dangers in this house." Mrs Weasley said.

"Oh" he looked at the little girl trying to decide what to do while some small laughs were heard at the kitchen. An idea occurred to him then, maybe he could ask Hermione to switch, it would be less awkward if he took Hugo. Hermione then stood holding Hugo's hand and headed towards to door.

"Err.. Hermione! I thought that maybe.. we could switch you know.. I could take Hugo if you like." Hermione turned with a big smile then looked at Ginny.

"It's ok, Im fine with taking Hugo." she said and exited the room.

"Not so lucky.. eh?" Fred said.

"..not at all. Well maybe if he wants to take little Hugo.."

"..he could change him for someone more alike.." by this point both twins were scratching their chins like they were in deep thought.

"..but who can be that similar to Hugo?"

"Oh I know! he could take little Ickle Ronnie!" Everybody was laughing now except for Ron who was sending some evil glares to his brothers. Sirius was almost crying of the laughter.

Harry didn't pay attention to the joke since he was still trying to solve his current problem.

"Daddy? I really need to go!"

"Err.. well.."

Ginny then saved him. "Come on Lily. Daddy has some things to do, I'll take you." she said.

"Ok" she jumped to the floor and headed outside of the kitchen.

Before exiting Ginny turned grinning "You owe me one.." she said and the whole room heard her. "..coward!" she added with a smirk as she disappeared from the room.

Harry let out a sigh and the room started laughing again. He sat down on the table between Al and James.

"So.. does Teddy have someone else looking out for him? What will happen to him once mom is gone?" Tonks asked after a while, she had calmed down and was seated between Lupin and Sirius near the end of the table.

"He is not alone! He has us!" James said.

"He comes to visit all the time, when he is not in school." Albus added. Harry relaxed a bit with the news, he had been wondering why wasn't he there for Ted Lupin. Professor Lupin let out a sigh and smiled at Harry.

"I was starting to wonder why weren't you there for the boy, kiddo." Sirius said.

"Me too!"

"Thanks" Lupin said to Harry.

"It's nothing. I'm sure I'll do it happily."

"It means a lot to me." Tonk said, her hair was now vivid blue.

"To us." Professor Lupin added putting a hand on Tonks shoulder. Harry was embarrassed, it was a strange thing to be thanked about something he hadn't done yet.

"I think I want to talk with Remus.." Tonks broke the silence. "..privately." Lupin blushed widening his eyes but he nod.

Mrs Wesley was next, she said she needed to distract herself and the only way to do it was to clean something.

A moment after Mrs Weasley exited the room Hermione and Ginny returned to the kitchen.

"I think we have to go too dear brother.." Fred said then.

"Sure we have some pending.. businesses."

"Can I go with them dad?" James asked. Harry doubted, he was deciding if the twins were a good influence for his son. He nodded.

"Your uncles will take care of you." he said with a loud voice that he was sure the twins heard. The twins just smirked.

"You know is pretty weird to be a father." Harry said to Sirius as James got out the room.

"Don't worry you got it under control. I have saw it." he answered. Harry noticed that his godfather was drinking firewhiskey now.

"Ginny! could you watch the kids for a moment?" Hermione said. When Harry raised his eyes he looked at her rushing out of the room. Ron was no longer there.

Harry returned his attention to Sirius like trying to say something important but he didn't found the words and he just stared at him with a sad smile. Sirius looked pretty much the same.

"Em.. kids! do you want to play a game?" Ginny said. The kids agreed eagerly.

"Isn't dad coming?" Al asked and Lily turned to where Harry was seated.

"No, he has some important things to talk with uncle Padfoot. Come on let's go, Hugo, Rose." Harry looked at her with a thankful smile. As they were leaving Ginny turned slightly and she winked at him leaving Harry uncertain of what that meant.


	6. Fixing Ron

**Hermione**

* * *

The trip to the bathroom was a weird experience but Hermione managed to do it without any major problem. When they were getting out of the bathroom Ginny appeared before them holding Lily's hand.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"I took pity of him." Ginny said smirking. Hermione laughed.

"We'll wait for you here."

When Ginny and Lily were out all four of them walked back to the kitchen. The trip was short so Hermione tried to get as much information from her friend as possible. "How are you feeling about this whole thing?" she whispered so Hugo and Lily could not hear them.

Ginny smiled a bit. "I'm good. I'm happy I think, it seems like a very good future."

"What about Harry?"

Ginny blushed and lowered her sight. "I don't know.. I'm nervous about what he thinks.."

"Only about what he thinks? So the whole 'give up on Harry' was not real.."

"I.." Ginny was looking nervous.

Then they reached the kitchen's door and the kids rushed in.

"We'll talk about this later."

Ginny nodded blushing.

When they returned to the kitchen Professor Lupin, Tonks and Mrs Weasley were not there anymore.

"I think we have to go too dear brother.." Fred said.

"Sure we have some pending.. businesses."

James spoke then looking at Harry. "Can I go with them dad?" Harry doubted for a moment looking questioningly at the twins. Hermione thought that he was trying to decide if it was a good choice to let him go. At the end he nodded.

"Your uncles will take care of you." he said loud enough for the twins to hear and James ran after them.

"You know is pretty weird to be a father." Harry said to Sirius as James got out the room.

"Don't worry you got it under control. I have saw it." Sirius answered, it was weird to think about it but this time Hermione agreed completely with Sirius.

The last hour Hermione had saw reactions in Harry that she thought were completely foreign to her impulsive and emotionally nervous best friend. One thing she was certain of, Harry was a great father. It was really amazing considering what his childhood at the Dursleys must have been.

Ron then stood up and walked outside of the room without raising his sight. Hermione sighed, she had promised Hugo that she was going to talk with Ron but she hated to do the first move.

"Ginny! could you watch the kids for a moment?" Hermione said and she rushed out of the room when her friend nodded.

Hermione caught up with Ron at the first floor.

"Ron! Where are you going?" She tried to look casual but she knew that her frown was automatic at the mention of Ron's name.

"Err.. to my room?" he was startled, he was not prepared to talk to her and he certainly didn't expect it.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure.. about what?" he was nervous.

"About all those awful things you yelled back there" she said pointing back to the kitchen.

"Em, what's wrong with that?" he said without thinking.

"What's wrong with that?! Are you really that thick?! You were so unfair to Harry, you said horrible things to him and to your sister! and you even upset Hugo!"

Then right when Hermione was ready to answer to Ron's reply the most incredible thing happened. He didn't yell.

"Sorry.. " Ron had a defeated look on his face. He seated at the third step of the stairway and he passed the hands through his red hair. ".. It's just that.. I don't know.. I felt betrayed.. I didn't expect him to see her like that." he didn't sound like the Ron she knew.

Hermione was shocked. "Did he just say sorry?" she asked herself.

When Ron noticed the silence he continued. "Harry is supposed to be my best friend, why would he take advantage of her like that?.. it's just not right."

Hermione let out a sigh. This was not the Ron she had known for years, her frown dissolved.

"Why do you think he is taking advantage of her? You don't know what happened in the future."

"He knows that she is nuts about him since ever.. "

"That doesn't prove anything! you don't know what happened. He could have fallen in love with her."

Ron snorted.

"What? don't you think that Harry could love Ginny?"

"He doesn't. He doesn't even look at her. She has sprung around him for three years just squealing and running away." he said.

"It's not like that anymore and it will surely be different in the future."

"You don't know that."

At that moment Hermione decided to seat besides him which surprised Ron a bit. She focused on his blue eyes when she spoke again.

"Have you looked at their kids? How they talk and behave around them?" Ron's face looked like he was trying to remember the events from breakfast. "They are a happy family. They are great parents and they have a wonderful marriage. I just know that, would your opinion change if that were the case?"

"I guess so.."

"He's perfect for her and you know it, you saw them. Would you prefer Ginny marrying somebody else? like Dean or Seamus? you know them also.."

Ron's eyes went wide quickly. "Of course not!"

"So, what's the problem? You are ok with them. Haven't you heard Lily? You are uncle Ron, in the future you are not mad at them. He is still your best mate the only difference is that he is also your brother in law. He is family."

"I'll think about it, ok?" Hermione smiled at him and then he continued. "How is Hugo?"

"He's fine, he just didn't like us to be angry at each other." Hermione blushed looking away.

"Oh, so you are not mad at me anymore?" he asked hopefully.

"That depends." she answered with a half smile.

"On what?"

"On you stop being a prat and apologizing to them."

Ron scratched his head with the tip of his finger. "That's blackmail! If I don't want to do it then you'll be mad at me and Hugo will be upset." He said pointing out how unfair he thought that was.

Hermione stood up and started walking back to the ground floor. "You should've thought about that before acting like a prat. I may not be mad at you forever but if you don't do it then there's a possibility that Hugo might not even exist." And she left without even waiting for an answer.

After all of the morning's events Hermione just wanted to go to the library because only there she would be able to relax. She still had some pending work to do for Transfiguration and she also thought that the Black library could hold a book that talked about mysterious time-travel masks. She was looking for Ginny and when she found her playing with the kids she asked her if she could take care of the kids until lunch.

"I need to go to the library but if you are having trouble with them,, I can stay." she had said.

"No it's ok, I'm doing fine with them. And besides I think that Harry will be here to help me any minute now. He's just talking with Sirius" Hermione noticed that she mentioned Sirius' name with a grim voice.

"Ok thanks. If you have trouble just say it. We'll talk about you know what later." Ginny nodded blushing. Hermione then headed to where Hugo and Rose were playing and she told them that she had to do something but that their aunt Ginny was going to take care of them for a little longer. The kids nodded. She also promised Rose to have a longer chat with her later and the girl smiled.

When she arrived at the library she heard a yell and she thought that Ginny might be having trouble.

"Lily, come back! he is busy."

Hermione picked up her stuff to go help but when she was close to the doorway she heard Harry's voice.

"So what do you want to play?"

Hermione smiled. Well, Harry was already with them so she wasn't needed there anymore. She returned to the library table.

After half an hour trying to move forward on her Transfiguration work Hermione noticed that she wasn't able to focus, the events from this morning were too absorbing. However, when she checked for the mysterious mask she couldn't find anything useful. An irremovable mask popped once in a while as well as a mind reading mask but there was nothing that talked about a time-travel mask. She needed more information.

With a defeated expression she sighed and found herself thinking about the conversation she had with Ron. She was surprised to be thinking about him but it was just too weird to have seen him like that.

"How had she fallen in love with Ron in the first place?" Hermione thought. It was hard for her to understand how she had married him if they were always arguing and he never listened to her. He was a prat, an inconsiderate and he didn't have an inch of sensibility.. but he was Ron, he was always there for her, he was loyal and - even when she wouldn't admit it - funny.

Since it was lunch time already she picked up her stuff again and she headed to her room. When she got there Ron was still wandering around her thoughts. She didn't know why she thought about him so much, everything was going to be forgotten once Dumbledore erased their memories.

On her way to the table she found Harry at the stairway also heading to the kitchen.

"Where had you been?, we had a wonderful time playing some games with the kids."

Hermione was lost on her own thoughts so Harry caught her by surprise and it took a few seconds for her to form a valid answer. "I was at the library. I took the free time to do some school work and I also tried to find something about that weird mask."

"Any luck?"

"No, I'll need to get a drawing of the mask also. Maybe it has some runes carved in it."

"That could be a good idea."

"You talked with Ron right?"

Hermione looked at Harry questioningly trying to find out what had Ron said to him when she answered she tried to look surprised. "About what?"

"He apologized"

Hermione's eyes widened. "WHAT!? He apologized already?" She thought. This was very unexpected, she never considered that he would give in this soon. "Had he done it for Harry or because I told him that he needed to do it if he wanted Hugo to be born?" Hermione blushed with a big smile and Harry just looked at her with a questioning look raising an eyebrow.

"He listened to you" a voice was heard on her mind.

"It's everything all right, Hermione?"

"Eh?" she was caught off guard again but she tried to continue as if nothing had happened. "Oh yeah.. I just made him a small comment. He cannot act like that, he knows he is being irrational and .." Hermione tried to look mad.

"Thanks" Harry stopped her. "I didn't want to pass through last year all over again."

"Oh it's ok.. I guess. I would've done it either way.." Hermione then remembered something. "By the way I have something I wanted to talk to you."

"Really? what's that?" He looked slightly surprised.

"Ginny"

"Err.. what about her?" Harry was blushing.

"Well you have three kids with her."

"But it hasn't happen yet. I barely know her, she just started talking to me." Harry was nervous. Hermione thought that her suspicions were right, Harry didn't like her. Judging by his tone, Hermione believed that he felt guilty about not liking her.

"Only Harry." she thought.

"I know.. So you don't like her." Hermione was looking for a straight answer.

"I.. don't know. I'll surely do but I don't know how I feel right now."

"He doesn't know how he feels. Well that's a step forward." she thought.

Hermione remembered her own situation, she was on the same point regarding Ron. She did not know what she felt about him, she was in fact still trying to absorb what his apology meant for them.

Thinking back about Harry, she recalled that her friend had been paying special attention to a particular girl. Maybe that's why he was feeling guilty. "It's Cho right?" before Harry could say something she continued. "I know you asked her to the Ball last year and you are not that subtle." Harry nodded in resignation.

"What should I do?" he looked confused.

"Mmm.. I believe that if we can send the kids back soon enough it won't really matter. Our memories would be erased and you would get back to try to attract Cho's attention, when that doesn't work I suppose you'll get together with Ginny without remembering anything of this."

"But what if we can't? What if the timeline is altered?"

That was the hard thing to answer but she knew that this was not her decision to make. "Then you'll need to decide. You can still try something with Cho but I won't think that your kids would like that, or you could try to get sooner with Ginny. It's up to you."

"Oh.. well" Harry looked like he still had some things to think about.

"Just promise me that you're going to talk to her."

"What should I say to her?"

"Be honest, tell her what you think and feel about this. Ask her how she feels. It may even help you clear things up."

"Alright, I'll do it when I find the moment"

"Don't take too long.." Hermione then sighed. "I only hope she doesn't get hurt, I haven't had a chance to talk to her myself and I'm not sure where her heart is."

"I don't want her to get hurt either." Hermione knew that.

"I know that you care about everybody but you need to find out if you care about her as you care about everybody else or if you care about her more."

Harry looked thoughtful. "I'll think this through"

Hermione smiled at him, having this conversation had been a good idea. Now it was up to them.

"What about you and Ron?" She turned surprised to look at Harry who was grinning mischievously.

She blushed, she was obviously not going to say anything about her recent thoughts. "There's nothing between that prat and me!"

"Well I know two redheaded things between you.. I'm not sure if your kids would like your friendship with Viktor Krum." Harry was smirking.

Viktor, she hadn't thought about him. She didn't knew what was going to happen with their relationship but she was sure that while the kids were around she wouldn't see him. She didn't want any problem with Ron either. She was surprised of those thoughts.. she was thinking as if Ron was her boyfriend or something. Either way that was not Harry's business.

"Oh shut up! We're late for lunch" and she rushed to the kitchen feeling her face hotter than before.


	7. Sirius Conversations

**HARRY**

* * *

When he was alone with his godfather two whole minutes passed before someone dared to say a word. "And to think that yesterday all I cared about was not being able to leave this horrible place" Harry didn't know how to answer that.

"I'm sorry he said. I shouldn't have let you alone." his godfather continued.

"It's not your fault. I .. I wish we could do something."

"You don't want to." Sirius he said, it was not a question nor a reproach.

"It's not that I don't want to. I don't want to lose you, but.. it's just.. the kids. I don't know what to do."

"I thought so." his godfather said drinking again from his glass.

"You know kiddo." he continued after Harry's silence. "I won't try to change things, those kids are much more important than I am. But if I could change something it wouldn't be me, it would be Remus. He deserves it."

"You deserve it too. You have suffered enough!"

"Maybe dead I won't do it anymore." those words surprised Harry, Sirius was clearly very depressed. "What I mean is that there's not very much I can make of my life now. I have lost my youth as a prisoner. Remus has Tonks now, he has a future kid to fight for. I'm alone."

"You have me."

"I know and that's why I haven't given up yet. But now I'm glad to see that when I'm gone you will have more. Look at your future, Merlin! you will have your friends, Ron and Hermione won't give up on you, never. They will never betray you, they will never doubt of you. You have three wonderful kids - the older one is meant to be a prankster by the way - .." both of them smirked at this.

He continued quickly "..those kids love you and are very proud of you. You are a very good father in the future - you are not doing a bad job right now either - I'm not even close to that. You have a family now! you have the future we are fighting for and I'm glad of it. That's the future that's worth dying for!"

Harry believed him but that didn't make his pain go away. "I know that but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."

"Well, " he took another sip of the firewhiskey. "we could be here all day mourning my death or we could try to enjoy the time we have left." Harry didn't how to answer since he knew that his godfather was right.

"On brighter topics, that future wife of yours is quite a keeper." he said.

Harry blushed. "She is Ron's sister."

"That didn't seem to stop you." he glimpsed at Harry mischievously.

Harry lowered his sight blushing again. "That hasn't happen yet. I haven't even thought of her like that."

"But you will. Have your kids told you when will that happen?"

"No, we haven't talk about that. The breakfast chat was more about what were their likes and dislikes and stuff like that."

"Suppose that we have to change the timeline, that we keep our memories. Would you approach her sooner?"

"I.. I don't know. Maybe. I'm not sure if there is much point in hanging with other girls if I know I'll marry her."

"You're right there but you make it sound like you have no choice."

"Do I?"

"Now that I think about it I'll say no. They're always redheads!" Sirius said barking a laugh.

"What do yo mean?"

A moment of silence passed as Sirius led the glass to his mouth once more.

"Potters! they're always taken with redheads. It's like a curse."

In that moment Lily ran into the kitchen and she clung to Harry's hand. "Daddy! come we want to play." Harry then raised his sight and he met Ginny's eyes at the kitchen entrance, Al was by her side.

"We saw a house elf, you won't believe how ugly it is" Al said fascinated earning some loud laughs from Sirius.

"Sorry, I told them you were busy but they outrun me." Ginny's face was red, Harry was also embarrassed thinking what she may had heard.

"There's no problem Ginny. We had finished our talk already. The kids can take him to play." Sirius said smirking at Harry.

"Did you hear us?" Harry asked Ginny quite nervous as he stood up.

"Only the last line.." she answered and then turned her chocolate brown eyes to Sirius. "..And just for you to know, I'm not a curse!" she said blushing.

Sirius laughed out loud. "Quite a temper also, just like your mother." he whispered to Harry. Harry was completely red.

"What was that?" Ginny said.

"Nothing." Sirius and Harry said at the first time.

An hour later Harry and Ginny were still playing with the four kids. Ginny was watching over a Exploding Snaps game between Al and Rose while Harry was playing a wizarding chess game with Hugo. Harry started the game slowly since he didn't want to upset his nephew by defeating him very fast, soon enough he discovered that although Hugo was not as good as Ron, he definitely knew the game. By the time Harry realized that the boy was no easy opponent it was too late. He just couldn't believe that he was having a hard time trying to beat a four year old.

"You should move that knight on your left side forward, your bishop will fall if you don't."

"You shouldn't give him advices! can't you see I'm losing?!"

"That's cheating!" Lily said from Harry's lap.

"No it isn't! I was going to move it either way" Hugo answered.

"So Ron, where were you?" Harry said as he watched Hugo move the knight that Ron pointed out.

"I.. was hanging around on the bedroom, there are not a lot of cool places around here, you know?"

Harry then moved a rook ignoring Ron's disapproving grimace.

"You are making this to easy for him."

Harry was irritated at Ron's comments, as far as he remembered he was mad at him.

"Why do you care if I lose? You're mad at me, remember?" Harry said in a cold tone.

Ron seemed to be struggling internally with something as he lowered his sight.

"I'm here to apologize." Harry's eyes widened in surprise. He saw that Ginny raised her eyes also when she heard Ron's words, she was very shocked.

"What?" Harry didn't notice what piece Hugo was moving.

"Uncle Harry, it's your turn."

"Eh..? .. Oh yeah" Harry just moved a random piece.

"The knight doesn't move like that!" Lily's voice came to him. She didn't know much about chess but she had memorized all the valid moves so she could complain if someone didn't move a piece correctly.

"Oh yeah, sorry" Harry focused a bit on the board and he fixed the movement, then he looked at Ron. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I was a prat. You don't even like my sister .. yet." he forced the last word. "You fancy Cho!"

"I.." Harry was very red and he didn't dare to look back to where Ginny gasped.

Lily then frowned. "Daddy loves mummy!" Harry thought that Lily was not liking the Ron of this time so much.

"Eh.. sure thing Lily" Ron answered nervous.

Harry then tried to force a smile and he addressed the girl "Sure I do Lils" the girl then smiled to Ron with a I TOLD YOU SO look.

"Your turn"

"Ok, Lily" Harry moved a pawn.

"So are you forgiving me?" Ron insisted.

Harry thought it for a second, he wasn't going to allow him to get away with it that easy. "For what?"

"For being a prat, I already said it."

"About what?"

Ron snorted. "About you dating my sister."

"I'm not"

Ron then forced the next words. "It doesn't matter, you will. And I think that she couldn't do better, it would be a far worse with Seamus or Dean. You are a good guy and a good friend." He ended his line sighing.

Was Ron giving him permission to date his sister? A squeal was heard from Ginny's direction.

"Who are you and what have you done with my friend?"

"Come on! don't make me say that again."

Harry laughed. "All right I forgive you but you'll need to apologize to Ginny also if you want us to be ok."

"Crap!"

"RON! The kids!" Ginny yelled frowning.

"I just made things worse, didn't I?" he said quietly so that only Harry could hear him, Harry and Lily nodded. "Well, here I go." And Ron walked towards Ginny.

Ginny was harder but Ron did manage to get her forgiveness and everybody was happy again. By the time Ron went back to Harry he had already lost to Hugo. They had a rematch now with a full focused Harry and Ron advising Hugo, Harry won this time but not for much margin.

When lunch time came Ginny took Al and Lily to wash their hands and forced Ron to do the same with Rose and Hugo. At first he said that they could eat like that but when Ginny mentioned Hermione Ron changed his mind with a frightened look. Harry said that he would pick up the games and then he would meet them at the table.

As he returned from his bedroom he encountered Hermione who was heading also to the table.

"Where had you been?, we had a wonderful time playing some games with the kids."

"I was at the library. I took the free time to do some school work and I also tried to find something about that weird mask."

"Any luck?"

"No, I'll need to get a drawing of the mask also. Maybe it has some runes carved in it."

"That could be a good idea."

After a brief moment Harry spoke again. "You talked with Ron right?"

Hermione tried to look surprised. "About what?"

"He apologized"

Hermione then opened her eyes as big as she could. Harry found this reaction a little odd and when her face turned red he spoke again. "It's everything all right, Hermione?"

"Eh?" she was lost on he own thoughts "Oh yeah.. I just made him a small comment. He cannot act like that, he knows he is being irrational and .." Hermione was frowning now. Harry was confused he didn't know what had just happened but he decided to let it go.

"Thanks" Harry stopped her. "I didn't want to pass through last year all over again."

"Oh it's ok.. I guess. I would've done it either way.." she made a small pause. "By the way I have something I wanted to talk to you."

"Really? what's that?" He looked at her intrigued.

"Ginny"

"Err.. what about her?" Harry was blushing.

"Well you have three kids with her."

"But it hasn't happen yet. I barely know her, she just started talking to me." Harry's was trying to justify himself.

"I know.. So you don't like her." Hermione was looking now at him with studious eyes.

"I.. don't know. I'll surely do but I don't know what I feel right now."

"It's Cho right?" before Harry could say something she continued. "I know you asked her to the Ball last year and you are not that subtle." Harry nod in resignation.

"What should I do?" he was hopeful that Hermione could help him figure things out. She always knew what to do.

Hermione frowned, she was clearly thinking. "Mmm.. I believe that if we can send the kids back soon enough it won't really matter. Our memories would be erased and you would get back to try to attract Cho's attention, when that doesn't work I suppose you'll get together with Ginny without remembering anything of this."

To Harry it seemed like a loss of time to try to get a girl when he knew it wasn't going to work. "But what if we can't? What if the timeline is altered?"

"Then you'll need to decide. You can still try something with Cho but I won't think that your kids would like that, or you could try to get sooner with Ginny. It's up to you."

"Oh.. well" Harry seemed troubled but at least Hermione was very good at separating options.

After a moment she spoke again. "Just promise me that you're going to talk to her."

The idea of talking to Ginny about the whole situation made him feel nervous but he knew that he had to do it. "What should I say to her?"

"Be honest, tell her what you think and feel about this. Ask her how she feels. It may even help you clear things up."

"All right, I'll do it when I find the moment"

"Don't take too long.." Hermione sighed. "I only hope she doesn't get hurt, I haven't had a chance to talk to her myself and I'm not sure where her heart is."

"I don't want her to get hurt either."

"I know that you care about everybody but you need to find out if you care about her as you care about everybody else or if you care about her more."

Harry was very confused about what he was feeling. "I'll think this through" Hermione let out a little smile.

Then a smirk appeared on Harry's face. "What about you and Ron?"

Hermione's face reddened. "There's nothing between that prat and me!"

"Well I know two redheaded things between you.. I'm not sure if your kids would like your friendship with Viktor Krum." Harry was smirking.

"Oh shut up! We're late for lunch" A very red Hermione rushed to the kitchen followed by Harry.

Hermione didn't got a chance to stop blushing since at the kitchen Mrs Weasley was waiting for her with a big hug. Since the grimness had already passed Mrs Weasley gave her an unofficial welcome to the family, at this Hermione and Ron blushed furiously. Harry didn't missed that they sat together and that they were now talking to each other although their tone was very formal. Harry didn't got a chance to tease them since a moment later Mrs Weasley gave him his respective hug and it was his and Ginny's turn to blush. Harry didn't miss that even Ron was laughing at them.

Then a beaming Mrs Weasley ran around the table hugging as much grandkids as it was possible.

After the welcome, lunch was uneventful and no important news were disclosed by the kids in part because the people at lunch were afraid of asking more questions. The conversation was casual and the most interesting part was that they found out that Neville and a girl from Ginny's year named Luna were very closed to them, Harry then understood Lily's full name.

When lunch was over Mrs Weasley decided that they would take turns to take care of the kids while the rest of them cleaned the house. It was better than a full day cleaning marathon. His turn was after Ginny's and on his way to where the kids were playing he heard Bill's shouts from the kitchen. Apparently he and Mr Weasley had arrived and Mrs Weasley was telling them about the kids and the.. bad news. Harry gulped hoping the oldest Weasley brother didn't curse him, Harry liked him and he definitely didn't want to be at the other end of his wand.

After a couple of minutes of being with the kids, Bill and his parents arrived to where he was. They surely wanted to meet the kids.

"Grandma!" Lily threw herself to Mrs Weasley's arms and she took her very excited, Bill and Mr Weasley followed the little girl all the way with incredulous eyes.

"Hi Bill, Hi Mr Weasley, exciting day at work?"

"Hi Harry, not as exciting as it was around here I believe." Harry smiled, apparently Mr Weasley was not angry.

Bill was pretty shocked looking at the kids but he managed to speak. Harry was afraid that he would curse him right then, after all he was very close to Ginny. "Hi Harry, err.. would you mind introducing us?"

"Well, they already know you.. I suppose." a shadow crossed Harry's face, what if they died also? Harry didn't want another moment as the one at breakfast. "But I can tell you their names." Harry finished and the two newcomers nod.

"Ok, as you can see the little girl over there playing chess is basically a redheaded Hermione. She is Ron's and Hermione's, her name is Rose." The Weasley men nodded with a smile.

"Hi" they said.

"Hi GrandDad, uncle Bill?" Harry let out a sigh, she recognized them both. They were alive.

Harry continued right away leaving a very puzzled Rose. "The little Ron playing with her is her brother, Hugo"

"Hi"

"Hi" Hugo barely raised his sight, he was very focused on the board and Harry noticed that he was going surely going to lose that game. If Rose was as good at chess as Ron and as smart as Hermione he was not going to play against her.

"He just needs to talk about Quidditch and he is Ron all over again" Bill said to his dad smiling.

"You wouldn't want to mention Quidditch in front of Rose either" Bill's eyes widened and looked more carefully at the girl.

"Seriously" Harry answered before Bill could ask the question.

"Ok, now mine.." Harry sighed. "The little girl on your mom's arms is Lily"

"Bloody Hell! she is Ginny!" Harry blushed.

"BILL! Language! haven't you seen the kids?!"

"Sorry mom"

"Yeah.. she does look a lot like Ginny." Harry didn't allow another comment there because he continued quickly. "Boys, can you come here?"

James and Al left their Exploding Snaps game and walked towards Harry.

"The one with the glasses is James and this one is Al.. Albus"

"Bloo.."

"Bill!"

"Sorry, It's just that.. that one is you!"

"I also look like dad but no-one says so after they see Al" James snorted.

"It's ok James, you are your grandpa Potter with freckles." James smiled and everybody laughed.

The boys then focused closely on Bill and their eyes widened. James shoot a questioning look to Rose and she just shrugged. Harry was puzzled about their reaction.

"Well Harry as the head of this family let me give you a hug and the welcome to this family. You were already like a son to us either way" Mr Weasley said hugging Harry. Harry felt a bit uncomfortable about that, he still had some feelings to clarify.

"Are we ok?" Harry asked Bill.

"Sure, I care a lot about my little sister but I cannot think of a better guy for her. It's just overwhelming. Either way she was quite taken with you since she could talk."

"Bill! they're not dating yet and they may not even do so for some time." Mrs Weasley said.

"Ok sorry."

"I'm sorry too Harry, I don't want you to feel pressed about what I just said."

"Its ok Mr Weasley."

"You just treat her well, she has six brothers and you know that." said a smirking Bill but his expression hardened right away, he surely remembered that Percy was one of them.

"Err.. sure" Harry answered.

After a short silence Al spoke at last. "Uncle Bill, what happened to your scars?" Mrs Weasley's eyes jumped.

"Scars?" Bill asked and Harry knew already where this was going.

"Yeah, the ones you got in the war. They're kind of cool."

"James!" Harry felt weird about reprimanding James.

"Sorry, It's just that you said that magic couldn't remove them."

"What?" Bill was still shocked, his parents were stunned. "Where? What kind of scars?"

Harry was wondering the same thing, what kind of scars cannot be removed with magic after all? "A lighting bolt scar for example" a thought let him know. He got worried about the kids' next answer.

"On your face!" James said this very excited passing his hand through all of his face and Mrs Weasley started sobbing. "The werewolf attack! you say it was a hard battle." it was too much to take for Mrs Weasley, she drop on a couch leaving a puzzled Lily on the floor.

Bill gulped, Mr Weasley was by her wife side. "I'm a werewolf?" Bill was trembling.

"No, you just like raw meat. Everybody keeps forgetting things, are we really in the past?" Rose asked.

Bill sighed. Harry heard Mr Weasley's voice comforting his wife. "You heard that? he's not a werewolf." he said.

Harry was shocked. How many awful things could happen? On the other hand Rose was very smart, she was Hermione all over again. "We'll explain it later Rose" he said to her.

"Ok, uncle Harry" she returned to her game but she was still puzzled. Al looked at James, he was clearly surprised.

"Grandpa, is Grandma going to be all right?"

"Yes Lily, she's just weak."

"Oh ok" she looked confused.

Bill said some quick goodbyes and he helped his dad to carry her mother to a room. Harry was in deep thinking when Lily spoke again.

"What are you going to give Mummy for her birthday?"

Harry was stunned. Ginny's birthday was tomorrow, he wasn't used to give her anything but now his kids would expect him to buy her something good, would Ginny expect that also? Harry could always order something by owl.

"Yeah dad, what did you bought? you always buy cool things." James said.

"Do I?"

"Yeah, last year you got her the new Firebolt and a dress. The other year you got her this very cool camera and some jewelry."

Harry was surprised. "I get her two gifts?"

"Yes! it is always something big that she really wants and a smaller gift like a dress, earrings or shoes." Harry was surprised he didn't know that Ginny liked those kind of things.

"You also go on a romantic dinner or a trip and you leave us with uncle Ron while you're out." Lily said with dreamy eyes while James made a weird gesture.

The romantic stuff was out off the table, they were not dating and either way they couldn't get out of the house. Alright he got some ideas from the kids but he needed something more specific. He knew she liked Quidditch but what about those other things.

"Lily?" Harry thought that the girl would know more about jewelry. A dress or shoes were also discarded since he didn't knew her size.

"Yes daddy?"

"What kind of jewelry your Mom likes or wears?"

Lily put a finger on her mouth thinking deeply. "She has some silvery things and some gold things also.." This was not that much of a help. "..OH! she likes some red little shinny stones."

This was something. "Rubies?"

"Yeah those" James said.

Rose was nodding at Harry also. "They're aunt Ginny's favorites.. mum's are blue stones.. how are they named?"

"Sapphires?" Harry asked.

"Oh yeah, but she likes her stones a lighter shade of blue.." Rose was happy.

"Like dad's eyes!" Hugo yelled.

Rubies. It wasn't much but Harry could think on something. He needed to give her a gift and Mrs Weasley wouldn't complain if the kids were there, they would be expecting him to give a gift to their mother. He was still thinking what to get her when an idea appeared on his mind and he smiled.

Minutes later Ron got there to look after the kids.

"Hey mate, your turn for cleaning."

"I'll be right there but first need to send an owl."

"What for?" Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Something about my vault" Harry knew that Ron wouldn't question him with the money.

"Oh,.. you can use Pig. You remember that they don't want Hedwig to wander around."

"Thanks a lot."

Harry ran out of the room looking for Sirius and he found him on the master bedroom feeding Buckbeak.

"Padfoot, I need your help. Emergency."

"What for, pup?" Sirius looked concerned for a moment.

"Ginny" he said and Sirius smiled at him.

At the evening the Order had a new meeting. Kingsley Shacklebolt, Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore and Snape came to the house, Professor Lupin and Tonks were nowhere to be seen. None of the visitors spoke to them when they arrived apart from short greetings but it was very weird knowing that James, Rose and Al were allowed in to explain their story but Harry, Hermione and the younger Weasleys were left out. After the meeting Harry got some information from Sirius. First, Dumbledore still hadn't found out anything about the mask. And second, the hearing's defense was ready.

Harry had already forgotten about the hearing. He didn't know if he should worry about it now since obviously everything turned out quite well but he still was nervous of what could happen. He thought about asking the kids about the hearing but they surely wouldn't know about that small detail of his life, after all his life was filled with things much more exciting for kids than a court room.

At dinner they had explained to James, Rose and Al that they had time traveled. Rose and James already knew what was happening and Al suspected it. The three of them were sad because they missed their older parents but they found some relief in knowing that at least they were with the real ones. Lily and Hugo remained unknowingly, they were still very little and they wouldn't understand either way.

The sleeping arrangements were made. James was going to sleep with the twins, Lily and Rose were going to stay with Ginny and Hermione, and Al and Hugo with Harry and Ron. Mrs Weasley managed to transfigure some pajamas for them and she promised that she would be going to get them some clothes at first time tomorrow.

"You are not sleeping with mummy?" Lily asked to Harry as she was led to the girls room.

"Err.. " Harry blushed furiously. Ginny was even redder so her face was now matching her hair.

"Lily, we are going to do a only girls sleepover. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Hermione said rescuing them. "Your parents will sleep together another day." Ginny hit her lightly on the shoulder at that last part still pretty red.

"Ok." Lily said smiling.

"So will you and dad, right mum?" Rose spoke grinning.

"Eh?" It was Hermione's time to blush. Ron - who was ready to interfere moments earlier - stood there red frozen.

"Sure they will, Rose" Ginny said smirking. "right Hermione?" Hermione glared at Ginny but she nod noticing Hugo's eager look.

After the kids said their goodbyes to their parents the girls went inside and closed the door. The boys continued their way upstairs, Ron and Harry walked silently without raising their sights, they were still pretty red. They had a light chat on their bedroom, mostly about Quidditch but the kids were tired and needed to sleep. Also Mrs Weasley appeared at some point to ensure they were not keeping her grandkids awake.

The corridor appeared again. The flashes of cold light passing by were also the same. Harry was still running towards the same black door. But when he was close enough the voices were different.

"Harry! where are you?!" Ginny's voice came first. Harry felt as his chest tore apart at the sound of her pleading yell.

"Dad!"

"Dad, Help!"

"Daddy, I want to go home!"

Harry was striding as fast as it was physically possible, his chest was expanding and contracting very quickly. This couldn't be happening, Voldemort didn't knew about them.

"You had done well, Wormtail." a hissing voice came from the distance.

"I brought you all of the Potters my Lord, as you asked."

Harry was gritting his teeth and his eyes were moistening with impotence as he continued to yell. Why he couldn't run faster?

"Voldemort! I'm here leave them alone!" He yelled.

"He is coming Wormtail. Bring the bait."

"Which one my Lord?"

"It doesn't matter, I only need one." Then a deathly pause came. "Kill the spares!"

"NOOOOOOOO!" He woke up. Harry could almost see the green light.

This time all the people on the room woke up.

"What's the matter with you!?" Ron yelled at him while rubbing Hugo's back.

Harry calmed down Al and Ron did the same with Hugo. He was definitely not going back to sleep. Ron looked concerned but Harry convinced him that everything was ok.

"I only need some fresh water. Go back to sleep you know this is normal. Take care of Al." he said to his best mate.

Ron nodded reluctantly.

Harry left Al on the bed saying that he needed to go downstairs and that the boy didn't need to worry because his uncle Ron and Hugo were right there on the other bed.

He entered the kitchen looking for a glass of water and he realized that there was a light turned on in the room.

Sirius was sitting there with a bottle of firewhiskey and surprisingly enough, still very sober.

"Hey pup, rough night?" he said. Harry gave him a weak laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Moony asked me the same thing this morning.. Was he able to sleep?"

"Not entirely, he's having a long chat with my cousin. There's a lot of sobbing there, she also is helping him prepare everything for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Full moon."

"Oh" Harry sat down next to Sirius.

"A lot of thoughts on your mind?"

"You bet."

It was clear that Sirius was expecting him to explain but Harry didn't do it so his godfather made a more specific question "So what is bothering you?"

Harry's face looked grim. "The kids. What would happen if Voldemort finds out?"

"Don't worry, pup. We will send them back before that happens."

"And what if we can't! I have a family now, it's a wonderful family. I won't lose them!" Harry buried his face on his hands and start sobbing.

All the weight of the day was now falling on his shoulders. Voldemort's return, the Ministry refusing to believe it, Dumbledore keeping him in the dark, the kids' arrival, Lupin's death.. Sirius' death and above all those things Harry knew that the most important thing was stopping Voldemort from finding out about the kids. He couldn't lose them.

He couldn't lose Ginny either. He just knew that.

Sirius then served another glass of firewhiskey and passed it to Harry. "Here, you need this. Don't tell Molly." Harry was shocked.

"Are you really my godfather?" Harry asked to the man who was supposedly the one responsible for him.

Sirius barked a laugh and he drank from his glass. "Last time I knew."


	8. Birthday Gifts

**GINNY**

* * *

Ginny was dreaming with Harry again but this time it had nothing to do with the Chamber.

The dream was familiar since she had had it before, many years ago. She was a princess who was somehow being guarded by an evil dragon and Harry came to rescue her. This time she was a thirteen years old princess - the last time she had the same dream she was eleven - and the dragon that was guarding her was an Hungarian Horntail that stood no chance against a brave Harry Potter holding a silver blade with egg-size rubies on its handle.

She was at her favorite part, the kiss. For some strange reason she never got to finish the kiss, she always woke up at that part. This time when her lips were just an inch away from Harry's she felt a tug from her emerald dress and internally cursing for the uncompleted kiss she looked down. There a beautiful little girl on a cute white dress was standing, she had a long red mane and her same chocolate brown eyes.

"Mummy!" she said.

Ginny's expression softened. "What's the matter dear?"

"Mummy!" she yelled again.

Ginny insisted calling her by a name that she pulled out of her memories. "What's wrong Lily?"

"Mummy! breakfast!"

"Oh, in a moment dear. I'm busy" Ginny then turned to Harry and moved her lips close to him but halfway to him she heard the girl's voice and everything vanished.

"Mummy! wake up!"

Ginny woke up with a white mind and it took her what seemed like five seconds to distinguish the girl hoping on her bed. Before the events from the previous day came to her she snorted in frustration for the lost fantasy.

"Happy Birthday, Mummy!"

Lily's face was looking at Ginny with a huge smile drawn on her face and suddenly everything came back to her. It was very hard to believe but still she couldn't lie to herself, she was very happy of the surprise once that she got over the initial shock.

"Thank you, Lily. Why are you up this early?"

"I'm always up this early! I'm hungry, can we get daddy to make breakfast?"

Ginny was surprised. "Harry makes breakfast?"

"The best ones in the whole world!"

Ginny was not an early riser that was for sure and she complained internally for having to wake up so soon. "Can breakfast wait a couple of hours? It is too early don't you think?"

"No! I'm hungry and Al should be hungry too." Lily was still hoping on Ginny's bed.

"Oh ok.." Ginny muttered. "Let's go down to see if there is something ready yet. Mum should be up already."

Ginny rubbed her eyes as she sat on the side of the bed.

"Were you dreaming with daddy?"

The surprise was evident as Ginny's chocolate eyes widened at once as her drowsiness disappeared instantly. "What..?"

Lily's smile was wide. "You were saying his name."

Ginny's freckles got lost when her whole face went red, she knew that her dream had been very childish but she really liked it. She had been missing those dreams since the Chamber incident.

"E.. I was?"

Lily nodded and another voice came from the other side of the room. "Your actual words were: Harry, my hero!" Hermione was grinning while she rubbed her eyes, appearantly Lily's noise woke her up. "Happy birthday by the way" she added.

Ginny's face was even redder than before.

Hermione had been trying to talk to her about Harry but with the girls around she couldn't do it. She already knew what her friend was going to say to her: Don't get your hopes up, the kids will return and everything is going back to normal, don't get impatient..

"Tell me your dream!" Lily said as she stopped hoping and sat on the bed looking at Ginny with excited eyes.

"Eh.. "

"Lily if a dream is good you don't tell it otherwise it won't come true." Hermione said smirking.

"Oh ok. Was it a good dream mummy?"

Ginny was still blushing, she couldn't take the images of the dream away from her mind. "Yes" she answered weakly.

"Were you kissing daddy?"

Ginny's face was as red as her hair but she knew exactly how to answer that. "You heard aunt Hermione I cannot tell you about it, it was good and I want it to come true. You don't see her talking about her dreams with uncle Ron right?" Lily shook her head in resignation.

Hermione blushed and Rose smirked. Ginny now had something to tease Hermione with.

"Alright, now let's go brush our teeth so we can get ready to go downstairs."

When they arrived at the kitchen only Ginny's mum was there and she was surprised to see the four girls entering the room so early.

"Happy birthday dear. I didn't expect you so early."

"Thanks mum, Lily woke us up. She's hungry, is there anything for her to eat yet?"

"Eggs and some other stuff but I have no time to prepare anything.. I'm already leaving."

Harry and Albus entered the room then. Then moment that she saw Harry, Ginny's thoughts flew back to the knight on her dream and she blushed slightly.

"Good morning everybody." Harry said with a tired voice, then he looked at her. "Happy Birthday Ginny." he added with a weak smile.

"Happy birthday mum" Albus said grinning.

Ginny blushed, she didn't expect Harry to remember her birthday and there she was blushing again as if she never got over him.

"Thanks" she answered shyly. Ginny was still trying to adjust her feelings with the whole kids situation, she was supposed to have got over Harry but she couldn't stop from wanting to know what Harry thought about this.

A part of Ginny just wanted Harry to notice her like she wanted to be noticed but she knew that the kids had to go and their memories had to be erased. It was very dangerous for the kids to be here so it was the best thing to do, even if that meant that Harry was going back to look at her as 'Ron's little brother'.

"How did we got together in the first place?" Ginny thought. The day before she forgot to ask the kids about that but she was definitely curious about it. "I'll have to ask Lily or Rose about it." she thought.

"Good morning. Are you feeling alright dear? you don't look pretty well." Ginny's mum asked to Harry, at this Ginny noticed how tired he looked. He must've had a bad night.

"I'm fine thanks. Just a little tired."

"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked and she turned a bit red when Ginny raised her eyebrow at her.

"He's sleeping, you know he does not do early wake ups."

"Yeah but I thought that Hugo would've woke him up."

Rose snorted frowning. "Like he can wake up by himself, he needs to smell food first."

Everybody laughed.

"He is Ron all over again then" Harry said weakly.

Ginny's mother then started walking towards the doorway. "I'm leaving but I'll be back before you notice."

"Where are you going?"

"To the Diagon Alley, I have to buy clothes for my grandkids."

"But they are a lot of kids, won't that be expensive?"

"Ginny, I can stretch things a little. I'll manage to buy these kids something decent to wear."

"Mrs Weasley, I can help." Harry said but Ginny knew that her mother wouldn't accept that.

"No dear. I have told you already that your money is for you to spend."

"But.. those are my kids it won't be right for you to buy those things. Let me give you money at least for James's, Al's and Lily's clothes."

Ginny then realized that Harry was right and her mum would have a hard time trying to deny that.

"It's ok Harry, I can manage to get all five on my own."

"But I want to buy those. You say that I should not help you with your sons, then is my responsibility to get my kids's stuff."

Ginny saw her mother trying to argue back but she couldn't find the words, then she just sighed in defeat. "Ok Harry but it will only be for those three."

Hermione took the opportunity to intervene. "I want to help with Rose's and Hugo's also. I don't have the money to buy all their clothes but I think that it will be enough for two or three shirts." she said happily.

"Hermione dear, you don't have to. That's your school money."

"I have more than enough for school supplies, my parents gave me some extra this year."

"Well, all right but if you are short in school supplies this year you'll let me help you then."

"Ok" Hermione said smiling.

Ginny remained on the kitchen as Hermione and Harry went upstairs to get the money. It was a strange feeling to see Harry buying clothes to her kids.

"Harry, this is way too much." Ginny's mother said when Harry came back and gave her the money.

"It is not, it is what it costs me."

"But secondhand is cheaper."

"Well then you could buy new clothes for them or extra clothes of the five of them, as you decide. I know you'll make the right choice."

Ginny didn't miss the reluctant way in which her mother nodded. If she knew her mother well then she will prefer to spend all of Harry's money on new clothes for the three Potters than to use it to help with Rose's and Hugo's.

"Mrs Weasley, won't you need their sizes?" Hermione asked.

"Of course not, I have been dressing up seven kids. I have an eye for this." she answered with a smile, then she addressed Ginny. "Ginny dear, could you make a quick breakfast for the kids?"

"Eh.. me?"

"Well I have been trying to teach you how to cook"

"But.. I'm not really good" Ginny was awful at cooking and she didn't want Harry to see that.

"You have to learn. I did told you that you would have a family one day and you needed to learn how to cook"

"I didn't thought it would be this soon!"

"Dad can make breakfast." Al said.

Most of the people turned to see Harry. "I can. It won't be a problem" he said.

"Are you sure dear? I would prefer if Ginny did it."

"We can do it together, I can teach her some things. I just need to learn how to turn on the stove." Ginny was looking very surprised at Harry.

"Well alright, if it is ok for you. Ginny knows how to use the stove."

"OK, thanks Mrs Weasley"

After Ginny's mother left Hermione sat down at the table and started talking to the kids while Harry and Ginny prepared breakfast. Ginny was amazed by the ease that Harry had for the kitchen.

"Oh No! I forgot!" Hermione said then. Ginny almost got herself burn at the unexpected yell from her friend.

"What happened?" Harry asked her. Ginny had turned herself but everything seemed normal, even the kids were confused at Hermione's sudden words.

"The clothes! The money!"

"What's wrong with that?"

Hermione turned to look at the kids and when she saw Lily staring questioningly at her she stood up and walked towards the stove.

"They will erase our memory but we won't know where did the clothes came from or why we have less money." she whispered so only Ginny and Harry could hear. "This will change the future!"

"Relax Hermione, Dumbledore will surely think on something. They need some clothes."

"Oh well, I guess we cannot do nothing about it now. I'll think on something.." Hermione said as she returned to her seat. Rose was looking at her very intrigued. "As long as it's only that we can control it." she said.

For some odd reason Harry straightened uncomfortably at Hermione's words. Ginny decided that it was not such a big deal and they both returned their attention back to the stove.

"We should do some for Ron and Hugo, they might want to wake up if there is food involved.. Al, can you go tell your uncle Ron that there is food on the table? Be careful, we don't want that portrait screaming this early."

Albus nodded and headed upstairs. By the time Albus got back Harry was already throwing omelets to anyone who was ready for them.

Ginny couldn't believe how easy it was for him. "You're pretty good at this. You have a talent for cooking." she said as she passed a plate to Hermione.

Harry smiled weakly, he was still looking tired. "I don't, I just had a lot of practice. You would cook better than me if you had been doing this since you were seven." he said casually.

Hermione who heard this raised her eyes in Harry's direction.

"Seven? Why would you cook at seven?" Ginny asked.

"Err.. well the Dursleys."

"WHAT! those.."

"Ginny! the kids!" Hermione said.

"Oh, sorry. But.. how could they do that to you? You surely got burnt a lot of times!" Ginny was fuming. It came to her mind that while she was comfortably listening to Harry Potter's stories at the Burrow Harry was being treated miserably.

"Not too many.. I had to learn quickly." Ginny glared at him for minimizing the problem.

"Did your cousin cooked also?" Hermione asked frowning.

"Well no.. Dudley only did the eating part." Harry said.

"That fat.." Ginny started but she was cut off by her son.

"Uncle Dudley is funny.."

"WHAT!? He's not.. He's.. wait.. uncle? Do we still see him?" Harry asked shocked, Ginny and Hermione were not looking les surprised.

"Sometimes.. he has a lot of Muggle stuff. David has this cool game.. what is called?" Lily asked putting a finger on her mouth.

"Wii" Albus said rolling his eyes.

"Oh yeah! there are little people on the screen and they move when we move this white stick and.." Lily was clearly excited.

"Wait! who is David?" Harry asked.

"Uncle Dudley's and Aunt Brenda's son."

"He has a kid!"

"Two, there's also Emily" Albus said.

"Are you sure we visit them willingly?"

"You like uncle Dudley and mum also likes aunt Brenda" Ginny snorted, that was very hard for her to believe.

"Oh well! this future is nuts!"

Harry and Ginny were already eating breakfast when Hugo and a sleepy Ron appeared on the kitchen.

"This must be a bloody good breakfast to wake us up like that."

"Ron! language!" Hermione yelled at him.

"Oh yeah, the kids. I keep forgetting, sorry."

Ron sat next to Hermione and Rose gave Ron a good morning hug. "Morning dad"

He was surprised. "Oh.. morning Rose.. slept well?" Rose nod.

Hugo was a hugging Hermione.

"You do look like a happy family" Ginny said with a smirk on her face as she slid a plate with an omelet in Ron's direction.

Hermione and Ron turned to look at each other and after a second they looked away blushing. They both tried to change the conversation.

Soon enough Ron moved his attention to his plate and when he started eating he noticed something different. "Mum didn't do this. It's good. Who cooked?"

"Harry" Hermione said.

"Really?"

"Ginny helped." Harry said

"I basically held the dishes for him." Ginny added embarrassed.

"You did helped me."

"Rubbish! Ginny can't cook" Ron said earning a nasty look from Hermione.

When Ron saw that Hermione was about to speak to him he changed the topic very quickly. "Eh.. Where is mum?"

"She went shopping, the kids needed clothes."

"Oh ok"

"By the way, you do know that it's Ginny's birthday today, right?" Hermione asked him.

"Eh..? Oh yeah.. Happy Birthday Gin."

"Mmm.. Thanks" Ginny blurted.

"Happy birthday, aunt Ginny"

"Thanks a lot Hugo" this time Ginny smiled.

"Al, could you go and wake up your brother?" Harry asked him.

"Yeah, but that will be difficult"

"Well, you did wake up your uncle Ron. I think that James will be easier" Harry said.

"Hey!"

Everybody except Ron laughed.

A few minutes later Ginny saw Ron looking questioningly in Harry's direction, Ginny thought that her brother had noticed how tired Harry looked.

"How are you feeling, mate?"

"Eh? I'm good.. just a slight headache."

"What happened to you?" Hermione asked.

"Just a bad dream."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive"

Hermione was looking with suspicious eyes at Harry. Ginny was also intrigued, Harry had had rough nights before but today he looked sick.

"Mummy had a dream too. About Daddy!" Lily said and Ginny froze completely red. She couldn't believe that Lily just said that in front of Harry.

Ron spat out what he was eating while Harry almost choked. On the other hand, Rose was smirking and Hermione was trying to hold on a laugh.

"You did?" Ron asked.

"Oh, leave her alone. She doesn't need you to approve what she can and what she can't dream." Hermione said frowning to Ron. Ginny noticed that Harry was also blushing.

Then James and the twins entered the room. Ginny was relieved, they would surely change the conversation topic.

"Good morning everyone, Happy birthday mum!" Ginny was still pretty red and she couldn't answer.

"Are you alright? What's happening?" James said.

"Lily said that Mum dreamed with dad last night." Albus answered.

"There goes the conversation change.." Ginny complained mentally.

James made a hand gesture as it was an unimportant matter. "Big deal, Mum says that almost every day."

"Well little Harrynkins has a point my brother.."

"..yeah, she has done that for years." By this point Ginny couldn't look at Harry directly in the eyes. Her face was red again, she just knew it.

"Well Harrynkins, when you start dreaming about our sister then we'll ask questions." George finished smirking.

Harry and Ginny didn't spoke for the rest of the breakfast and they barely raised their looks from their dishes.

When her mother arrived she was surprised of finding the kitchen full and she started to prepare breakfast for the remaining people.

Moments later Ginny and Hermione took the kids upstairs to their room so they could try on the clothes that their grandmother brought them. It was obvious for both girls that the clothes for Ginny's kids was brand new while Rose's and Hugo's was secondhand. Ginny felt uncomfortable about this since she had always had secondhand clothes and she didn't want Hermione or her kids to feel bad.

Ginny calmed a bit when she noticed that neither Hermione nor the kids really cared about that, Hermione was actually beaming saying to Rose how beautiful she looked. Ginny's mother had brought around 3 changes and a set of pajamas for each kid and all of those clothes fit perfectly.

"Could you kids go downstairs? I have to talk to Ginny for a moment." Ginny's attention was directed to Hermione, she wasn't prepared for that talk yet.

All the kids nodded and began to walk downstairs.

"Rose! watch Hugo, I don't want him falling on the stairs."

"Yes mum!"

Ginny's eyes widened, Hermione did sound like a mother. "Eh.. Albus, James you also watch on Lily."

"Yes mum!" both of them said at the same time.

"It's really hard to get used to this" Ginny said once that the kids were gone.

"I know. Come here, we have a lot to talk about." Hermione said with a grin as she dragged Ginny to her bed.

"So, talk" Hermione said.

"About what?" Ginny said smiling with her legs crossed next to her.

"Black hair, round glasses, scar on the forehead.."

"Harry? What about him?"

"What about him? you have three kids with him."

"That doesn't mean anything.. he doesn't like me.. I heard Ron the other day, he said that Harry has something for Cho.." Ginny spat out Cho's name on an annoyed tone.

"Well he maybe has something for Cho now, but you know that he will fall for you eventually."

Ginny couldn't avoid a smile at that but she also hadn't ask the kids about that, she didn't know yet when that was going to happen. "But we don't know how much time it will take him to get over Miss Wonderful-Seeker and besides, when Dumbledore sends the kids back he will forget them and I'll be back to be Ron's little sister." she lowered her sight, that was a frustrating thought. Harry was just starting to look at her differently and someone was going to erase his memories.

"Ginny listen to me you are perfect for Harry but the kids need be send back so the time can return to normal.. well sort of.." Hermione's had a concern expression.

"What do you mean by that?"

"That even if we can send them back things will be different now; the money, the clothes, maybe something else. More different the longer the kids stay here. In other words you two could get together sooner.."

"Or we could not get together at all!" Ginny said.

"Don't be that pessimistic!"

"What will happen if we can't send them back?"

"Well that would be very bad, we do need to send them back, it'll be dangerous for everyone if we don't. But talking about you and Harry, I guess you could try to get together with him, you can beat Cho any day."

"How do you know that?"

"He will love you, he just doesn't realize it yet. As I said before you have kids, you do know how kids are made right?" Hermione asked with a mischievous look.

Ginny's eyes opened wide and her face went as red as her hair. "I.. I.. I do know that.. but I haven't thought a lot about it!"

Ginny was getting redder with every second that passed. "Well you are thinking about that now, that's for sure."

"Oh shut up! and besides.. Rose and Hugo didn't just appeared of thin air either!"

Hermione went red now. "Ginny!"

"Well it's true, but it is disgusting.. he is my brother.. I don't know what you see in him, he is just an ugly git!" Ginny said.

"He's not.. I don't.." Hermione was having a hard time picking up her words, she was blushing intensively.

"We do need to talk about you and Ron also.. I still need to give you my permission to date him"

"I'm not dating him!"

Rose came to the room then. "Mum, Aunt Ginny! Grandma says that it's time for cleaning"

The cleaning was going to be only the first half of the day since Ginny's mother had decided to celebrate Ginny's birthday after lunch, this was because an important Order meeting was going to take place in the evening. They all proceed to clean the house as they did the day before with one of them taking care of the kids at a time.

Ginny and Hermione noticed that something odd was happening. Ginny's mum was fuming at Sirius every time she saw him - the sorrow for his future dead seemed to be already forgotten. Ron and Harry also seemed distant but when Ginny asked them they denied that there was something wrong. On the other hand Harry was not looking tired anymore and that was good news.

Lunch came in no time so Ginny and Hermione took Lily and Rose upstairs to change for the birthday. When everybody was back at the table it was filled with food and presents, Ginny couldn't avoid a smile.

"Presents!" Lily yelled and ran to the table.

"They are not yours dear, they're for your mother"

"I know Grandma, can she open them?"

"Not yet, after lunch"

"Oh, ok"

Professor Lupin and Tonks were at the table already, Ginny noticed that they looked a lot more joyful than the previous day, Sirius was near them. Ginny saw her mother shooting him some deathly glares. Bill and her Dad were also there since they got out early from work today.

"Happy birthday Ginny!" she heard a lot of people saying.

"Fourteen is a big number sweetheart!" her father said.

The food was magnificent as always and it appeared like her mother didn't forgot to make more for the five extra mouths at the table, they even got to eat dessert twice.

When everything was over she started opening the gifts and Lily was hopping around trying to find out what the present was before the wrapping was tore apart. This year she had got a particular high amount of gifts. Among the things that she received were clothes, Egyptian pendants, books, joke products, - her mother glared at the twins at this - lots of chocolate and an unexpected gift from Sirius: a jewelry box.

"It's a little one but I think it will be enough for your next few years, it's supposed to be a Black family relic. I made sure that it was safe and with no disgusting Slytherin symbol at all. You can even paint it red!" Sirius was grinning.

"Sirius! you shouldn't got that to Ginny, that's way to much."

"Hold on, Molly! the box is empty is for her to fill."

"Oh ok then.. I think it is acceptable in that case."

"But, I don't have any jewelry." Ginny said.

"You do have many things!" Albus answered.

Sirius who knew that Albus was talking about future Ginny decided to ignore the kid. "I'm confident that you'll find it a good use." he was definitely smirking.

When only two packages remained Lily approached her with a little piece of paper. It was a drawing with two bigger figures in the center, one with long red hair and the other with black hair and round glasses, Ginny knew that those were supposed to be Harry and herself. Three smaller figures were standing close by - surely Lily and her brothers - and a huge birthday cake which looked a lot like her actual cake was in there - her mother should have told Lily how was the cake going to look. On top of it there was a colorful sign that read "Happy Birthday Mummy!".

Ginny who was not expecting the drawing was beaming at it.

"Thank you Lily" she said with moist eyes. "This is the best gift this year"

"Daddy's is better!" she said smiling.

Ginny was stunned.

She was not expecting a present from Harry at all, how could she if Harry never gave her anything on her birthdays besides an occasional chocolate-frog box. Ginny noticed that Harry was smiling at the other side of the table and then she knew that Lily was not lying.

Excitement then took over her. "What did Harry get me? Is it something romantic?" she thought blushing. She didn't care if it was something really cheap and small as far as it was something that said to her that he was no longer seeing her as Ron's little sister.

"Which one is it?" Ginny asked nervous without taking her eyes off of Harry.

"The little one." Albus said.

"What about the other one? All of us already gave ours." Bill asked very thrilled.

"That's ours." James said smiling.

"You got one also? Where did you got the money from?" Ginny's mom asked frowning.

"Dad, as always." Albus said and Ginny's mom directed her frown towards Harry.

"Well don't just stand over there! open it!" Tonks said on a cheerful voice, Ginny knew that she was also eager to find out what Harry got her.

Ginny sighed with a smile on her face as preparing herself for what was coming and then she stood up and headed for the small package.

"NOOO!" Lily yelled and Ginny was startled. Everybody else also seemed surprised.

"What's wrong?"

"You always open Daddy's last!"

"Oh, right" Ginny's chocolate brown eyes traveled to the long and larger package.

"That's a broom!" George yelled.

"It seems so my brother, but what kind of broom..?"

"I hope that not a very expensive one!" her mother was still throwing nasty looks at Harry who was trying to look away.

"Come on unwrap it!" Hermione said.

"You don't even like Quidditch." Ron said to her.

"But I like presents!"

"Oh come on! kiss already and lets move on with the gifts!" George yelled causing Ron and Hermione to turn intensively red. They were deciding between glaring at the smirking twins or just let it go.

Harry was trying to hold on a laugh which didn't go unnoticed by Hermione so she threw him a very nasty frown.

"Everybody likes presents!" Rose said and all the kids agreed with her.

"OK, ok! I'm opening it!" Ginny said taking the package very excited.

Ginny tore the wrapping apart and when the broom was uncover she let out a squeal. Everybody who knew about brooms on the room was stunned except for Harry and Sirius.

"That's.. Harry's broom!" Hermione said. All the kids were seeing at the broom with dreamy eyes.

"No, I have my own broom upstairs." Harry answered.

"But you said that that broom was very expensive, you said that you'll need to empty your vault to buy that!"

The eyes from Ginny's mother went very wide. Ron had a very serious expression.

"Well it is a broom for a professional player." Harry said.

"And mum likes those." James added. "They're very fast."

Hugo and Rose were looking at the broom in complete amazement.

"But what about your school supplies?! you still have three years left if you consider that you haven't bought this year's supplies!"

"Calm down Hermione, he has money for that. He made me promise that I would have to accept the money back when he has it!" Sirius finally spoke.

"But when would he be able to get that amount?!"

"Relax Hermione I'm sure that Harry and Sirius have talked this through. You know that Harry wouldn't accept that deal if he wasn't sure that he could pay back and I know that he will." Professor Lupin intervene.

"But.. how?" Hermione asked clearly puzzled. Ginny was thinking the exact same thing but she couldn't say a thing, she still couldn't take her eyes away from the broom.

Ginny then raised her eyes and saw Professor Lupin smiling at Sirius.

"The Potter vault. I talked Harry about it yesterday. For some stupid reason he thought that his trust vault was all of his inheritance!" Sirius answered.

"The Potter vault? He has another vault?"

Sirius laughed. "The one he has right now is like newspaper money on his pocket compared to the Potter vault, but he'll have to wait until he's off age to get access to it and to his houses."

"Houses?" Ginny found a weak voice.

"Well yeah, the Potter wealth is pretty huge. My favorite one is the Potter Manor even when that one is not by the beach, you'll love it some day."

Almost everybody on the room was gapping, Ginny could tell that Harry himself couldn't quite believe it yet.

"The Manor is the best one!" James said.

"I like better the beach house at France." Albus added. Ginny just could not believe that, she was not only the wife of Harry Potter but she was also rich, it seemed so incredible. Most of the things she had were secondhand and she could not take the idea from her head that the life that the kids were talking about was not for her.

"The beach house is beautiful!" Rose said and Hermione turned to face her clearly stunned.

"You have been there?"

"Of course! uncle Harry invites us all the time!"

"Oh"

Silence fell on the room while everybody tried to assimilate all what was happening. It was easy to distinguish the Weasleys just by their expressions since all of them had sober faces while the rest of the people were smiling.

"Even so, she cannot accept that broom! that's too much money!" Ginny's mother finally erupted after a whole minute.

"I don't want to hurt the kids feelings, they choose the gift.. James decided the type of broom." Harry was trying to defend himself.

"The kids need to understand that they cannot be throwing the money like that!"

"It's their mother's birthday, they want to give her something."

"Harry.." Ginny finally spoke and everybody turned to face her. "..thanks, Thanks kids. But I don't think that I can keep this right now."

A smile appeared on her mother's face and Harry was trying to argue but then Sirius broke the silence with a grin. "I don't think you can return that"

"Why not!? Sure we can, I'll talk with the store owner."

"You won't be able to do it.. The kids made the present. Look at the handle."

"The handle?" Harry asked puzzled he was as intrigued as Ginny which meant that he didn't know what Sirius was talking about.

Ginny's eyes fixed on the end of the broom handle and when she saw it she gasped. Right there, carved on golden letters two words stood out. Ginny Potter.

"What is it sweetheart?" her father asked her.

"It.. It has my.. it's carved."

"What does it say?" Bill asked.

Ginny's face redden and she lowered her sight. "Ginny Potter." she said with a weak voice. Harry was surprised.

"Let me see that." her mother said. After some moments she turned to face Sirius with a fierce look. "Why did you do this?!"

"I didn't, it was the kids work. I just got them the broom and the carving kit as they asked for."

"You should've stop them! Can we fix it?"

"No, it will be noticeable and besides they have ways to know if some spell was done on the broom. They won't take it back."

Ginny saw her mother fuming.

"He's right Mom" Bill said.

Sirius then continued with a grin. "Ginny I believe that you are doomed to keep that broom."

"I.."

"You didn't like it?" Lily was looking at Ginny with a sad face.

"I'm sorry we upset you, it's not uncle Padfoot's fault." Albus added.

Ginny didn't want the kids crying and they made a great effort to give her a present. "No, it's not that! It's wonderful. I'll keep it" she said smiling.

"But.." her mother didn't knew what to say.

"Grandma, doesn't like it." James said at his grandmother's angered faded.

"It's not that James, it's just that.." she sighed. "Ok.. she can keep it."

"Yeay!" all the five kids yelled at once.

Ginny let herself fall back on her chair with a huge sigh. Her eyes didn't stop analyzing the broom and James was in awe looking at it next to her. She just couldn't believe that she had a professional broom now, she definitely had to try out for the team.

"Ehem.." Bill said on a cough like sound.

Ginny's eyes raised to find Bill's. "What's the matter?"

Bill's eyes moved to the center of the table where a little box was wrapped. Harry's present.

She had forgotten about it for a moment. Her excitement returned to it while she was deciding if she should dare to stand up and take that box.

"Harry dear, the broom was enough!"

"Oh no, the kids got to give her a present I should be able to do it too, even if I have to carve it so she can keep it." Many laughs were heard on the table. "and the kids are excited to see what I got for her."

Harry had a good point, the kids - mostly Lily and Hugo - were expecting him to act like her husband. Her mother couldn't deny anything out loud or the kids would be distressed.

"It better not be as expensive as the other one." was all she said.

"It's not" Harry said with a triumphal smile.

"Come on! we want to know what's on the little box" Ginny heard George yells.

"Little box! Little box! Little box!" Fred started and soon all the kids and George joined him.

"Fred!"

Ginny stood up and grabbed the box, then she took a deep breath and she opened it. When her eyes caught the beautiful necklace she gapped looking at Harry who was smiling.

"Take it out! some people want to see what's in there!" Tonks was yelling also.

The necklace had a silver chain with a silver and gold pendant. The pendant was a little broom with tiny red sparkles across the gold and silver line that represented the body of the broom, where the silver and gold twigs started a little red circle was shinning. A ruby.

"I afforded that with the money on my trust vault, the only actual stone is the little ruby and is very little, it didn't cost as much as you may think." Harry said before Ginny's mother could start complaining.

"Now is the moment when a jewelry box could come out handy.. Oh wait a moment.." Sirius said and Professor Lupin pushed him with a smile on his face.

"That's beautiful!" Tonks said. Hermione was nodding and Rose was smiling greatly.

Lily then pulled from Ginny's sleeve. "Can I look at it?" she said with her mouth opened.

Ginny nodded and handed the necklace to her daughter.

"Thank you, It's wonderful" Ginny said to Harry with a slight color on her cheeks as Lily looked at the necklace in awe.

Harry just smiled back at her.

"Well, those were pretty good gifts. Now where is that cake?" her father said trying to lighten up the mood in the room.

By the time that her mother was starting to clean the table Ginny was convinced that this had been the best birthday she had ever had. Not only the gifts were wonderful but the kids made everything better. Moments later she asked Hermione to help her getting her presents up to their room.

"Well I believe that the future has changed a lot more today. We can erase memories but what about those two presents."

"Three.." Ginny said showing Hermione the drawing that Lily made.

Hermione sent her a wide smile when she saw it. "That's a beautiful gift!"

"I know, but you're right." Ginny said as she put the broom very carefully on her trunk. "Everybody is going to ask questions about that broom."

"You mean because is very expensive or because of your name is on it." Hermione gave a great emphasis to the "your name" part.

"Both I think.." Ginny was blushing. "I think I can hide the name part, is not that big."

"But you don't want to." Hermione said smiling.

"I do like how it sounds." Ginny said blushing as she headed to the mirror to try the necklace on. "It is beautiful!" she said.

"Yeah, but I think that your kids or Sirius helped him. I don't think that he is that good at picking jewelry."

"It's very strange you know. I'm not used to these things and I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with receiving expensive things."

"Well, for what I heard it seems like you end up getting used to it."

After Ginny put the necklace back on the jewelry box she faced Hermione with a smile. "Now, let's see what the thick of my brother gets for your birthday."

Hermione went red. "Do you think he will get something for me.. like.. you know what I mean..?"

"If we still got our memories by then and he doesn't I'll smack his head, and I think that Rose will help me." both girls started laughing.

At that very moment Albus and Rose stormed into the room.

"Mum! Dad and Uncle Ron are fighting!" Albus yelled.


	9. Best Friends

**RON**

* * *

When he didn't woke up he felt another tug on his arm, and then another, and another until the unavoidable happened.

"UNCLE RON!" a boy with an unruly black hair yelled at him very close to his ear making him jump on the bed.

"BLIMEY! WHAT THE..!" His blue eyes then found the boy who yelled and he calmed down. "Oh, it's you." He said looking at Al.

Ron realized then that all of the previous day events were real. The boy in front of him was his nephew, the son of his best friend and his sister. Ron had kids of his own, with Hermione.. A dark shade of red reached his face and he turned to the other side of the bed remembering something, there he saw Hugo who was starting to wake up - apparently the shouting was loud enough to take him back to reality. He smiled looking at the redheaded boy and he stroke his hair saying that everything was alright.

Hugo went back to sleep.

His face returned to meet the green eyed boy, it was unbelievable how much he looked like Harry. "Hey kid, What's up!? it's barely dawn, you know?" he said letting out a yawn and rubbing his right eye. ".. do you Potters sleep at all?"

Al ignored him and he spoke with a concerned voice. "Dad is not here yet."

"What? wasn't he going for a glass of water or something like that?" Ron was not sure of what Harry had actually said but he never took that long to return to bed.

Al shrugged.

"Weren't you sleeping?"

"Yeah, but I woke up and Dad isn't here yet! What's he doing down there?"

"I don't know." Al looked at Ron questioningly as he was expecting a different kind of answer from him.

"Aren't we going down to look for him?"

"Do we really have to? We can sleep a bit longer then meet him at breakfast?"

"Uncle Ron!"

"Oh ok, ok. Damn, this kid stuff is really exhausting"

"Aunt Hermione, wouldn't like to know that you are using bad words."

Ron froze. "But you aren't going to tell her, right?"

"I could if we don't get down to look for Dad."

Ron's eyes opened wide, the kid knew what he was doing. "Blimey! you have been spending too much time with Fred and George!"

"That's James!"

"Oh yeah, the one with the glasses."

Ron then put a jacket on mumbling about Harry and having to wake up this early. "You stay here and keep an eye on Hugo, I'll be right back."

"But.."

"It won't take long. Harry just fell asleep over the table.. or something"

"..ok"

When he went downstairs Ron was still ranting about Harry. "Bloody Hell, not even mum wakes up this early.." he muttered letting out a yawn.

Suddenly at the first floor he heard some ripping sounds from behind him. He turned his face very quickly moving his hand to his right pocket but he discovered that he had left his wand on his night stand back at the room. He was considering his choices when he saw a figure dragging its feet across the floor.

"Oh, it's you! what are you doing here? you scared the crap out of me." He said letting out a sigh.

"Kreacher did not see young master" Kreacher said. "Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is."

"Oh not again, stop it! I'm busy." Ron then noticed that the house elf was holding something.

"What's that? are you stealing again?"

Kreacher twisted its mouth. "Kreacher is trying to rescue this noble house's heirloom." he paused and then he spoke again as if he did not know that Ron was there. "Like a brat of a blood traitor could understand how a noble house it is.."

"Stop it! and give me that!" Ron said as he pulled a heavy locket from the elf's hands. He couldn't open it so he put it back on his jacket. "Go away, it's an order."

Kreacher seemed ready to refuse but he bowed and started walking away without taking his eyes from Ron. "Stupid blood traitor that thinks he's worthy of master Regulus' treasure, oh Master please forgive Kreacher he has failed.. he has failed." Ron heard Kreacher banging its head on the distance.

"He is nutters!" Ron then took the locket out of his pocket to look at it one more time. "It is heavy for its small size, think I saw this on Ginny's hands the other day. Better give this to Sirius and tell him about that ugly old thief!" And he put the locket back on the inner pocket of his jacket, he got a strange feeling from it but he couldn't figure out why.

When the redhead entered the kitchen his mouth dropped open. There at the end of the table Sirius was snoring with his forehead leaned near a firewhiskey bottle. Harry was next to him, he was sleeping over the table too. He forgot completely about the locket on his jacket but the heaviness didn't retreat.

"Bloody Hell, I was right.. what were the odds?" he muttered to himself then he realized what had happened and he tried to contain a laugh.

"SIRIUS! HARRY! WAKE UP! .. MUM'S COMING!" he yelled hitting the table.

The two of them woke up suddenly. "What the hell!.. Why did you did that?" Sirius said trying to identify who had spoken.

Ron was laughing out loud but he managed to distinguish Harry rubbing his forehead.

"Ron? Why are you here?"

"Me? What are you doing here? Your kid want you up there, you're lucky I convinced him to stay in the room."

Harry's eyes opened wide. "I guess I just fell asleep.. but I wasn't that tired."

"Well drinking has that effect on people you know. Hope you feel better now. Mum is going to kill both of you."

"You're right, I shouldn't have done that. I'm not really feeling better.. my head hurts"

"You need a hangover potion kiddo that's all, but that will have to wait. We need to get some sleep and I don't want to know what could happen if Molly finds us here. I might have found the reason why I died the last time."

Ron was smirking. "Well if you don't want to die again, let's go back upstairs. I could still sleep a few more hours."

Sirius hid the bottle and helped Ron to take Harry to the second floor. Harry was feeling kind of dizzy but Sirius who obviously was more used to the effects could continue to his room on his own.

"You need to get to the bathroom, you don't want my nephew to smell you like that." Harry nodded.

Moments later they entered the room.

"Dad! where were you?" Al said as he hugged Harry.

"Sleeping on the table as I told you." Ron said with a smile trying to fake a joke.

Harry glared at him. "I was talking to uncle Padfoot, Al. Sorry I took this long."

"Oh, are you ok? you look.. sick"

"I'm alright, let's go back to sleep. I'm exhausted."

Al nodded and all of them got back to sleep, Ron was so tired that he didn't even took his jacket off. He realized that Hugo didn't notice anything since he didn't wake up.

Bad dreams haunted him this time which was a very rare thing on him, usually the bad dreams were Harry's thing.

"I've seen your soul, Ronald Weasley.." He heard a hissing voice.

More noise was heard on the room and then Ron woke up again without remembering anything about his dreams. He rubbed his chest feeling a pressure choking him lightly from the inside.

"Now what?" He was still very drowsy and he felt as if only ten minutes had passed since Harry had returned to the room.

"Al is hungry." Harry muttered.

"Tell him to wait." he mumbled covering himself again.

"I'll go down with him to the kitchen. You're staying right?" Harry said, it was clear that he had barely slept.

"Of course. Call me when there's food on the table."

Ron heard the door close and let himself drop down to sleep again.

"UNCLE RON!" Al yelled at him.

"Again? Really?! Am I allowed to sleep at all!"

"Uncle Ron, breakfast is ready!"

"WHAT!? You just went downstairs!"

"That was more than a half an hour ago." Al said laughing.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Ron huffed. "Well tell everybody that we'll be there in a few minutes."

When Al rushed out of the room Ron sat on the side of the bed rubbing his whole face violently.

"Hugo, breakfast is ready."

As he promised he and Hugo entered the kitchen a few minutes later. Only Harry, Ginny, Hermione and the kids were there, all of them were already eating.

"This must be a bloody good breakfast to wake us up like that." Ron was definitely not happy for his lack sleeping time.

"Ron! language!" Hermione yelled at him and Ron jumped on his place. He remember perfectly his conversation with Hermione of the previous day and he didn't want to make her mad.

"Oh yeah, the kids. I keep forgetting, sorry." He looked at her for a couple of seconds, he was still trying to decipher how they got together in the other timeline. Now that he had been looking at her in a different way he realized how beautiful she really was.

Ron remembered the Yule Ball and how she stunned him completely when he saw her all dressed up, but that was not her. Well she was and she was gorgeous, but the really beautiful part was seeing her with the bushy hair carrying books as if she was being chased, or her way to frown at him, or the way she sometimes rushed a thousand words and he didn't understand a single one of them.

He was not sure what those feelings meant but the whole idea of them being together didn't seem as crazy as the day before.

"Morning dad" Rose said hugging Ron as he sat down next to Hermione, Ron was startled since he didn't expect such a warm welcome.

"Oh.. morning Rose.. slept well?" Rose nod.

"Hell! she really is a copy of Hermione!" Ron said to himself.

"You do look like a happy family" Ginny said. Ron turned his head towards Hermione who was now hugging Hugo.

Hermione was also looking at him with a weird expression on her eyes. Then something happened, Ron didn't know why but he felt that he was lost looking at her. Her hair was bushy as always and her mouth was slightly opened in surprise but what really caught his attention were her eyes. He had saw those brown eyes thousands of times before but at that moment he noticed how lovely they were, it was as if they were sparkling and everything else was just meaningless.

He noticed Hermione's cheeks getting redder and he was sure that his own face was also turning red. Both of them looked away.

Ron didn't know what had just happened or what he was feeling but he knew right then that Hermione was the most beautiful girl in the world and that there was no-one else for him besides her.

The two of them tried to change the conversation, he quickly said something about Quidditch to Rose who was smiling widely. The girl answered shortly looking back and forth between him and her mother.

"What is Hermione thinking now? Did she felt that too?" Ron thought as he remembered how helpless he had felt when he had looked at her. He wanted so badly to know what she was thinking of him at that moment but he couldn't, the kitchen was full and he wasn't even sure if he would have the courage to ask her if they were alone.

Ron let out a sigh and turned spiritless to his plate, breakfast seemed less interesting now. Even so he was still hungry and when he and Hugo started eating he noticed that the food tasted slightly different but was still pretty good. "Mum didn't do this. It's good. Who cooked?" he asked curious.

"Harry" Hermione said on a weird tone.

"Had she forgotten already how they stared at each other?.. Oh come on Ron! 'staring'? maybe she didn't even notice anything." he thought.

Ron tried to follow the conversation. "Really?" he asked, the truth was that he didn't know that his friend could cook that well.

"Ginny helped." Harry said

"I basically held the dishes for him." Ginny added.

"You did helped me."

"Rubbish! Ginny can't cook" Ron said. He had tasted Ginny's breakfasts before and they were awful.

When Ron realized that Hermione was about to yell at him for being rude to Ginny he changed the topic. "Eh.. Where is mum?" he said as he glimpsed at Hermione to make sure that she wasn't upset.

"She went shopping, the kids needed clothes."

"Oh ok"

"By the way, you do know that it's Ginny's birthday today, right?" Hermione asked him.

"Eh..? Oh yeah.. Happy Birthday Gin." He did know. He even had some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans ready as a birthday present, he just hadn't thought about it this morning. Besides he had other things to think about like taking a drunk Harry out of the table or more recently.. Hermione.

"Mmm.. Thanks" Ginny blurted.

"Happy birthday, aunt Ginny" Hugo said.

"Thanks a lot Hugo"

"Al, could you go and wake up your brother?" Harry asked the the black haired boy.

"Yeah, but that will be a hard task"

"Well, you did wake up your uncle Ron. I think that James will be easier" Harry said with a smile. Ron on the other hand felt as his chest suddenly tightened from the inside.

"Hey!" it was not really that much of a deal but for some reason the comment really upset him, after all he did woke up several times this day because of him and he shouldn't be making fun of him when he slept on a kitchen table.

Everybody else laughed.

He caught a look of Hermione laughing at 'Harry's joke' and that really bothered him. His chest pressed again and he glared at Harry.

"She likes him.." a quiet hiss echoed in his head but it was so low and so quick that Ron thought that he had imagined it. He decided that he was overreacting but he still felt kind of uneasy towards his friend.

After some mouthfuls of food, Ron's thoughts went back a few hours to when he carried Harry back to the room. He didn't recall Harry explaining why he stayed downstairs with Sirius, he was surely conflicted about the news of Sirius' death but getting drunk was not his style. It was very hard for Ron to believe that Harry had got drunk while he hadn't even taste firewhiskey yet. Harry was always the good guy, the perfect boy, everybody knew that.

"How are you feeling, mate?"

"Eh? I'm good.. just a slight headache."

"What happened to you?" Hermione asked.

"Just a bad dream."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive"

Ron noticed Hermione's look, he knew that look, It was the look that she had whenever she knew something was not right.

"Well at least if she found out about it this time it's going to be nice not to be the one being yelled at." Ron thought.

"Mummy had a dream too. About Daddy!" Lily said causing Ron to spat out what he was eating and he quickly turned to look at Ginny.

"You did?" Ron asked.

"Oh, leave her alone. She doesn't need you to approve what she can and what she can't dream." Hermione said frowning to Ron. He then saw that Harry was just recovering from almost choking at the little girl's words.

Ron frowned at him. Harry didn't like his sister but even so he was taking her from them. After talking to Hermione the previous day, Ron had decided that the whole situation was not his friend's fault and that Ginny couldn't actually find a better guy but he was beginning to feel very grumpy so he couldn't avoid getting annoyed with Harry again.

Fred, George and James - the oldest Potter son - came into the kitchen next.

"Good morning everyone, Happy birthday mum!" Ginny was still blushing and she didn't answer.

"Are you alright? What's happening?" James said.

"Lily said that mum dreamed with dad last night." Al answered.

James made a hand gesture and he spoke again. "Big deal, mum says that almost every day."

"Well little Harrynkins has a point my brother.."

"..yeah, she has done that for years."

"Well Harrynkins, when you start dreaming about our sister then we'll ask questions." George finished.

Ron ignored him and started talking to Hugo and Rose. Hermione who was part of the conversation laughed once in a while but she insisted in not talking about Quidditch because she didn't know much about it. Hugo and Rose looked disappointed. Ron noticed that Ginny and Harry didn't talked much for the rest of the breakfast and he thought that was because of the whole dream conversation. James, Al and the twins were chating cheerfully next to them.

Ron's mood began to improve.

When his mother arrived she started to make breakfast for the rest of the people and Hermione and Ginny took the kids upstairs to try the clothes that his mother brought on them.

Ron followed Hermione with his sight until she disappeared from the kitchen.

Professor Lupin, Tonks and Sirius came shortly after that. Sirius was looking terrible and Lupin was shooting some weird looks at him. Ron thought that he must know about Sirius' current condition, after all he surely had saw him like that before.

"So do we still have some hangover potion?" Sirius said while he start eating, his hand was on his forehead.

"Have you been drinking?"

"Come on, Molly! I'm old enough.. I may be off age already."

"That's not the point! you have to control yourself, you are supposed to be giving an example."

"Come on, Molly! I'm dying here! And I did have a good reason, I'm really dying if the kids said the truth, remember?"

Ron's mother seemed to be struggling with herself, then she let out a sigh and took a bottle from one of the drawers. "Here. Merlin! you are the only reason we have that one in here."

"Thanks." and Sirius served himself a full glass with a smile. As soon as he started drinking from the glass his expression improved.

"Just because that is here doesn't mean you have to drink like that." she said and turned to face the stove again.

Sirius took the opportunity to shake Harry's shoulder and he passed him the glass quickly.

Harry looked at the glass very surprised.

Sirius whispered to him something that sounded like "Hurry." while directing his eyes to the stove.

Harry then gave a quick glimpse around the people on the room and when he noticed that he was not being watched by the redheaded woman he drank from the glass. His face also seemed better after that and he returned the glass quickly to Sirius.

Ron caught Lupin's severe expression and the glares he was throwing to the smiling Sirius. Tonks seemed to be holding a laugh.

"Harry dear, you need to eat something more. The cleaning is exhausting and you need more energies."

"It's ok Mrs Weasley. I'm full, you can give that to Ron I know he never refuses an extra plate." Harry said smiling and the rest of the room started laughing except for Ron.

His chest became heavier then and he saw Harry laughing, mocking him.

Ron had heard those kinds of jokes for a long time but at that moment something boiled inside of him that couldn't take the joke anymore and he was filled with an sudden hate towards Harry, the perfect boy.

"Why do you care?! I do need energies, after all I had to carry you all the way to the room a few hours ago! remember?"

Everyone was startled. No-one expected him to give Harry away like that - not even Ron himself. He didn't knew what made him snitched on his friend as he did, the words just popped out in a burst of anger. He felt guilty instantly.

Harry and Sirius looked particularly shocked. The twins' eyes were opened wide as if their brother had broken the most sacred of the rules in the world.

"What were you doing down here a few hours ago?" Ron heard his mother ask Harry.

"I.. I was talking to Sirius."

"How could you be talking to him if he was drunk?" Then her eyes went wide. She looked at Harry then at the bottle of the hangover potion that was clearly more than a glass down from its previous level. "Did Ron said that he had to carry you?"

Harry and Sirius paled.

"I.. I.." Harry couldn't find a way to fix the situation. Ron felt an urge to repair the problem, to tell Harry that he didn't meant to cause any problems to him or Sirius but he couldn't find the words.

"SIRIUS BLACK! What were you thinking?! Do you think that it's ok to give a fifteen year old boy a glass of liquor!?" her face was completely red in anger.

"Molly, let me explain."

"HOW COULD YOU?! THIS IS UNDEFENDABLE!"

She was taking a deep breath to yell at them again when the kids rushed into the kitchen.

"Daddy! look at our new clothes! aren't they pretty?" Lily ran to where Harry was.

"Eh.. yeah, of course Lils. They're beautiful." Harry barely saw the clothes.

"Sirius! Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Eh.. of course Molly.. I'll be right back pup."

"I'll go with you!"

"No, I want to talk to Sirius privately."

Sirius gave a forced smile to Harry and headed out of the kitchen after Ron's mother, the kids were looking very confused. Harry turned to glare at Ron willing to yell at him but he stopped himself, Ron thought that he didn't want to yell in front of the kids.

"We'll talk later about this Harry." Professor Lupin said and Harry nod, then Lupin and Tonks continued eating. Tonks was happy to made some funny transformations for the kids but that didn't stop Ron from hearing his mother shouting at the distance.

Ron's mother came back followed by Sirius a few moments later but she didn't allowed any words from Harry.

"Rose dear, could you go upstairs and tell your mother and Ginny that we are going to start cleaning now?" Rose nodded.

An important meeting for the Order of the Phoenix was going to take place in the evening so Ron's mother said to everyone that they were all going to celebrate Ginny's birthday after lunch. She wasn't talking to Sirius and she sent deathly glares to him every time she saw him. Harry was not speaking to Ron either.

Ron was not feeling guilty about what he had said anymore. A few moments earlier he was considering asking for Harry's forgiveness but then something happened that made him change his mind - the kids. Moments after they came back from upstairs Ron noticed that the three Potter kids had brand new clothes while Hugo and Rose were wearing secondhand and that disturbed him greatly. He had never complained about the secondhand before and he was perfectly ok with his kids wearing it, but the fact that the kids had barely a day in the house and there were already differences between them really bothered him. He could almost imagine Harry saying to his mother that his kids needed to wear better clothes, like they were royalty or something. The perfect kids from the perfect boy.

The cleaning started but Harry and Ron didn't talk to each other even when they switch turns to take care of the kids.

"What happened?" Ginny asked him after a while noticing this.

"Nothing." Was all that he said. When Rose and later Hermione asked him the same thing later he gave them the same answer.

When he was changing for Ginny's birthday the remorse came back to him about the day's actions.

"Maybe Harry didn't meant to get them new clothes." he said to himself. "It's not a big deal, is it? he had always had better things and that never bothered me before."

He was thinking about apologizing again when he put his jacket back on, the heaviness from the morning returned.

"Now that is odd." he said. Ron's hands went through the pockets and he found the locket that he had taken from Kreacher. "Oh, I had almost forgot about you, you really weight a lot." he said looking at it.

"Well I cannot leave it here, that stupid elf may find it again." He thought that he needed to give it to Sirius but he saddened when he remembered that he was not on his best terms with Sirius or Harry. He was deeply regretting the words he had said that morning.

He put the locket back into the jacket. "Later" he said.

Sooner than expected all of them were sitting at the table and many people started congratulating Ginny. Bill and Ron's dad had just arrived and they gave her their best wishes also.

Ron relaxed a bit when the food was served, it was delicious and that pulled out his brightful side. By that time Ron was thinking that he might been overreacting about Harry the entire day, he was having a hard day and he didn't know what was making him act and think like a prat. That was his best friend and they shouldn't be mad at each other like last year.

Then the gifts came.

At first Ron thought that everything was going very well, the sweets were always great gifts and Ginny loved them. Bill's pendant was awesome and the joke stuff from the twins was hilarious but then Sirius took out a box - a jewelry box - and everything changed from that moment on.

It turned out that Harry's kids were giving Ginny a present - with Harry's money - and Harry was also. The kids gave her a brand new Firebolt as it was nothing. Once again Harry was pointing out how much money he had and how he could give things to Ginny that Ron's family will never be able to.

Then the big news came out, Harry was rich. But not rich as they thought he was but vastly richer than that. He had a huge vault and houses all over Europe. The worst part was that it appeared that in the future his best friend had to take pity of him so he could take his own family out to the beach because - according to Rose - Harry invited him to his houses all the time.

His chest compressed again. He barely remembered the locket, all of his thoughts were wandering around how could he try something with Hermione when Harry was showing off all of the things that he could give and that Ron could only dream of.

"Was Hermione seeing that? Would she forget about Hugo and Rose now to focus on Harry? Would she try to get his attention?" Ron's chest was beating fast but it still felt like it was holding a lot of weight.

When Ron thought that the broom couldn't be more hated, it turned out that they couldn't even return it because it was already carved. As Ginny Potter.

"There he is again trying to take Ginny from us.. trying to buy his way through the family!" Ron thought.

The grand finale was a shinning necklace with some stones on it. Ron didn't know about jewelry but he definitely didn't like that Harry escalated his gifts to his sister from a box of chocolates to a necklace.

The cake came later and Ron remained there in silence trying to justify Harry's actions but he couldn't, in some way something inside him told him that this was not right. Harry shouldn't do all of these things, Ginny should not accept it, the family should stop it, Hermione should not notice him like that. Ron didn't stop throwing deathly glares in Harry's direction until everybody stood up of the table.

Ginny took Hermione upstairs taking the presents with them. Some of the remaining people were preparing the Order's meeting while the rest of them were just chating around. Harry then headed towards the stairway and Ron saw his chance.

Just as Harry's foot was touching the first step Ron pulled from his arm violently yelling at him. "What's the matter with you?!"

The surprise on Harry's face didn't last long as he frowned back at Ron. "What's the matter with me? You have been acting like git all day. I thought you were fine with the situation!"

"Well I'm not! you stay away from my sister!"

Harry was stunned but he recovered the concentration when he saw the twins, James and Al running to where they were.

"What's happening Dad?" Ron heard James' voice at his back.

"Nothing James, I'm just talking with your uncle. Go back to the kitchen."

Ron's chest was pressing him very hard.

"What's going on in here?" Bill said as he appeared on the scene followed by Lupin and Tonks.

"It seems like our dear brother is being a prat again." Fred answered.

"I'm not!"

"Everybody calm down. Ron, what is the problem?" Lupin said.

"He is!" Ron yelled in front of everybody pointing at Harry.

At that moment his parents, Sirius and the rest of the kids came also following the noise of his yells and found Harry and Ron glaring at each other while the rest of the people were shocked.

"RON! What did you do?" He heard his mother said.

"Me!? It's always me, right? Because he's just so.. BLOODY.. PERFECT?.. Well let me tell you something about him.. I had to carry his drunk arse last night all the way to the room!" Ron kept pointing at Harry the whole time.

The people that didn't knew that were completely taken aback while the kids were shocked. Harry couldn't find the words to say to him but he couldn't either look at the other people directly in the eyes.

"RONALD! STOP THIS NOW! THERE ARE KIDS IN HERE!"

"NO!" He yelled at his mother and she was completely stunned at the reaction moving her hand to her chest.

His mother wasn't used to be challenged on her opinions but Ron was not going to stop now, not now that he had this pressing feeling on the chest that he had to let out.

"RON! SHUT UP! Apologize to your mother in this very instant!" his father's tone was very severe as he almost never saw it.

"NO I WON'T! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE ON HIS SIDE!"

Everybody was dumbfounded, specially the Weasley brothers. Yelling back to their mother was a big thing but yelling back to their father was crossing the last line, the only one that had done it was Percy and that didn't go well. Even his father was stunned so the only people moving on the hallway were Rose and Al who exchanged a look and stormed upstairs.

"We are not taking sides but you are being unreasonable!" His father said clearly hurt.

Ron was getting the feeling that he was all alone. Suddenly he was not arguing against Harry, he was defending himself against everybody.

"It's always you.. you're the bad guy. He can't be wrong.. he's the-Boy-Who-Lived.." he heard a voice hissing around his head and his breathing quickened, he ignored it.

"Of course you are! Ever since he came to our lives he thinks that we need to worship him or something because of that stupid thing on his head!"

The feeling in the hallway was very grim. Sirius couldn't find what to say and Lily was about to cry. Harry's mouth drop opened unable to say a thing.

"RONALD WEASLEY! What do you think you're doing? Why did you say such a thing!" Hermione's voice thundered as steps were heard. A fuming Ginny was running behind her followed by Al and Rose.

"The truth! he has been taking advantage of this family ever since he first came into our lives!"

"He hasn't.." the bushy girl said as he stood in front of him, Ginny was behind her glaring at him. "He's your best friend!"

"He's not! He is trying to take Ginny away, he thinks he can do what ever he wants just because he is swimming in money!"

Ginny frowned and was about to yell also but Harry spoke first. "I'm not! And just for you to know you are not being the good friend here! You snitched on me, you put Sirius in a lot of trouble. Do you think that is what a friend does? Do you think I trust you now!?.." Harry was yelling as he started walking towards Ron. Ginny stopped him putting her hand on his chest when the two of them were getting very close. The rest of the room didn't know what to say but Bill and Lupin were ready to interfere.

"I'm alright pup. It was not that a big deal!" Sirius said.

"It's not my fault that you were drunk!" Ron yelled ignoring Sirius attempt to calm things up. Ginny's eyes went wide when she turned to look at an embarrassed Harry. Hermione did the same but she turned quickly to face at Ron again since it was the most important matter at the moment.

"Ron listen to me!" Hermione was shaking him, she was very nervous. "You don't know what you're saying, you need to calm down before you end up regretting something!"

Ron's face hardened. "You too? I'm supposed to be Hugo's and Rose's father.. Why are you on his side?" Ron was very hurt, he could almost see her running to stand by Harry's side.

"I'm in no-one's side.. Ron, listen to me." she was pretty disturbed.

"Ron.." Bill's voice was heard from behind giving a step forward. He seemed to sense that this was not going the right way.

"Of course you are! Why are you even here with me if you care about him so much?.. Oh, I know.. you also had your eyes on Mr Perfect but my sister caught him first, right?"

Hermione was shocked and her face showed a lot of pain. Everybody now was saying something, people were ready to stop them. Ron didn't heard anyone besides the four of them.

"RON! You prat! they are here!" Ginny said referring to Hugo and Rose.

"What is it with you? You're just waiting the moment to run away with that ungrateful git! He is breaking this family.. you know he's the reason that Percy left.. he's the reason why everybody is divided!" Ron's mother's sobs echoed around the room. Bill took out his wand and Sirius and Lupin ran towards the boys. Sirius went to get a hold on Harry while Lupin got Ron. The kids were yelling something but Ron could not distinguish the words on the commotion, the only thing identifiable was Rose's cries.

"That's how you think!?" Harry yelled trying to get away from Sirius.

"You bet!" Ron said trying to do the same from Lupin's grip.

"You are the problem here Ron! He loves this family.. This is his family!" Ginny yelled.

A hissing thought then echoed on his head. "You heard her.. you are the problem for them.." Ron wasn't sure where did that came from but it threw him over the edge.

A raging frown formed on his face, he really wanted to hurt Harry. "He doesn't!.. He doesn't love this family! How could he know what a loving family is? He never had one!.. His family is death!"

Everybody in the room was shocked, even in the heat of the conversation and with Ron acting enraged they never thought that he would actually say those words. Harry was frozen and Hermione's eyes grew huge. Lily's and Rose's cries were very loud.

Harry couldn't do anything because he was utterly stunned but Sirius was not holding him anymore. His godfather had an expression that was halfway between a complete shock and anger.

But it wasn't Harry the one to respond to Ron's words. Ginny gave two steps forward and slapped her brother with a serious and furious expression. "You git!" she said.

Hermione looked between Ginny and Ron with a frightful face with a clear hope that the situation hadn't reached a point without a return.

Ron's father was stunned and had his mouth opened the same as Ron's brothers and Tonks. His mother on the other side was very close to tears.

It took that moment of silence for the people in the hallway to discover that the portrait of Mrs Black was screaming but no-one paid attention to it.

Ron stormed upstairs to his room with his chest beating unnaturally.

"They don't deserve you.." he heard the hissing voice again, crossing through his head. By this time Ron didn't know if that was one of his thoughts or if he was going mad.

As he entered the room he kicked his nightstand and knelt down in front of his trunk. He took a bag and he started filling it with the most indispensable things. When he stood up there was someone on the doorway.

"What are you doing?" Hermione said very surprised.

"I'm leaving!"

"But.. why?"

"You know why. I think they have found a substitute for me already!"

"That's not the way the things are.. What about me or the kids?"

"Leave her.." the same voice again. This time another thought rushed to Ron's mind, it was the moment from this morning when they had looked at each other. The heaviness disappeared for an instant as he looked at her, she was crying.

"No, I don't want to hurt her." he thought.

"You can come with me.." he said.

"But.. you are not off age yet.. you don't have where to go.. this is crazy! you don't even have money.. Stay!"

At the mention of the money his chest felt heavier than ever.

"Money again! ok.. so it really is him!" and Ron rushed out of the room because Hermione was unable to stop him.

He ran downstairs without listening to Hermione's pleads. Everyone was still on the hallway but Mrs Black wasn't yelling anymore. Sirius and Lupin were trying to convince Harry of something on a corner of the hallway while Ron's father was comforting his mother who was crying.

When they saw him standing there with a bag at the foot of the stairs the silence fell on the house. Harry's eyes widened.

Ron said that he was leaving and everybody start yelling again to him while he quickly walked towards the door.

"You don't have were to go!"

"I don't care"

"You don't have money!"

"I don't need it."

"We need you!"

"That's not true."

By the time he reached the knob of the door his mothers pleads were desperate. The kids were crying. His father was shocked.

Ron exited the house pulling away the hands that tried to stop him, sending evil glares and swearing to whoever deserved it.

He didn't look back.


	10. Convincing Words

**HARRY**

* * *

The next thing that Harry knew was that Ron stormed upstairs followed shortly after by Hermione. Everything was wrong, and this was all because of him. Why he had to give Ginny those gifts? If he hadn't things wouldn't have turn up as they did.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this" he thought. "I was just trying to do something nice for her." He repeated to himself while his green eyes stared at a shocked Ginny.

He turned to face Sirius. "Sirius, let me go. I need to talk to Ron, he's going to say something hurtful to Hermione and I just have to stop this."

"I don't think that's such a good idea Harry" Lupin was now standing next to him.

Since Bill had silenced Mrs Black already he could hear everyone else but there were not many things to hear because most of the people there were still pretty much stunned.

"He's not leaving. He's not off age yet. I promise." Harry heard Mr Weasley said to his wife who was crying on his arms.

When he saw Tonks struggling to get the kids under control Harry knew that he had to put everything back to normal, he couldn't leave them like that - specially Hugo and Rose.

"I have to go."

"That will only complicate things, pup."

Then everybody focused on the stairway and the silence covered the house again. Ron was walking down the stairs with a bag over his shoulder and Hermione yelling behind him. Harry's eyes opened wide at the realization of what was going to happen next.

"Ron, this is insane! We need you here!"

Ron didn't answer to her, instead he addressed the whole room.

"I'm leaving." he said sharply and began to walk towards the doorway.

"WHAT!"

"You don't have were to go!" Hermione insisted.

"I don't care"

"You don't have money!" one of the twins continued.

"I don't need it."

"We need you!" Hermione tried as a last resource but it was useless, she was crying as Harry had never saw her before.

"That's not true."

Then Mrs Weasley started pleading between sobs but she was also unsuccessful and Ron didn't even answer. Mr Weasley couldn't even find what to say seeing how his youngest son headed to the door when he had just promised to his wife that he wasn't going to do it.

The twins and Bill tried to hold him back but he sent them some vicious glares that surprised everybody.

"Get your bloody hands off of me!"

His brothers released him in shock and he walked out of the door.

When the echo from the closing door stopped Mrs Weasley cried louder than before and she let herself fall to her knees, Mr Weasley and Bill tried to catch her while Sirius tried to silence his mother's portrait that was screaming again.

"Blood traitors!, dishonoring this ancestral house. Filthy mudbloods, half-breeds..." her screeches echoed across the house.

"What are we doing wrong? Our kids are walking away from us!"

Harry couldn't stand the yells of pain. "I'm going to get him back."

"No Harry, it's dangerous. Remember we used a whole guard to bring you here, you can't just go out and endanger yourself like that" Lupin said as he tried to hold him back.

"I don't care! Ron is out there with the same dangers around him! This is why he thinks I like people to worship me, can't you see it? I'm just as important as anybody else!"

"Stop. I'll go get him, he's my brother." Bill said.

"I'll go with you" Lupin said and Bill nodded.

"Come on, he can't be that far. He doesn't have much money." Bill said and both of them exited the house.

The minutes that passed before Bill came back through the door were very tense. The twins were still silent which was surreal on them while Mrs Weasley had stopped crying but without taking her eyes away from the door.

The guilt was very heavy on Harry's shoulders, the thought that his argument with Ron was the cause of all this suffering just didn't go away. His green eyes traveled a couple of times between the door and the people around him without knowing what to expect. Were they blaming him too?

A few feet away from him Hermione was looking very nervous and her hands never left her mouth while Ginny's expression was unreadable, both girls didn't took their eyes apart from the door.

When Bill finally opened the door he was stormed with a bunch of questions and people walking to him.

"We didn't find him" he said quickly answering all the questions at once. Sorrow fell upon everyone. "Remus thinks that he managed to take the Knight Bus."

"My boy!.. " Mrs Weasley was sobbing again but she tried to walk out of the house. "I'm going to look for him!"

"No sweetheart! calm down. We need to plan our efforts, we will find him."

"But..!" She couldn't finish her sentence because she broke up crying again. Mr Weasley managed to take her upstairs.

Fred then remembered something. "He didn't have much money.."

"It is not weird that he was able to afford the Knight Bus, the ticket costs less than a galleon."

"Oh"

"Tonks, Remus went straight to his place. He was going to prepare for.. tonight, he said that you could join him in there but if you didn't want to he'll understand. He's going to call Dumbledore as soon as he arrives, we need to inform of Ron's departure. He can't give this location away but he had heard things so this is very important for the Order also."

"Ron is not a traitor!"

"I know Harry, but there are ways to get that information out of him." the eldest Weasley brother answered grimly.

Tonks left after giving her goodbyes and ensuring that they will also be looking for signs of Ron whenever possible.

When the door closed Bill talked again. "We all need a tea. Come on let's go to the kitchen, there is still an hour left before the meeting starts."

"We need to go out and look for him" there was not much energy on Hermione's words, and the pleading look that she threw to Bill was hopeless.

"I also want to Hermione but we don't have enough information. I'll do some warning calls to our relatives while we wait for the tea."

Harry managed to pick himself up and he took Lily by the hand towards the kitchen, the kids were very nervous.

"Dad, is Uncle Ron going to come back?" James asked to Harry on the way to the kitchen, Al who was by his side raised his sight.

Harry was not able to say anything, his voice just didn't come out. He nod in a not very convincing way.

The tea was a dreadful moment since everybody was recalling the events that led to Ron running away from the house. Bill and the twins were very serious and Harry couldn't avoid feeling guilty of all the pain that this was causing to them. When he turned his face he distinguished Hermione who was sobbing while she stroke Hugo's hair, Rose was by their side with a full cup of tea in front of her and looking to nowhere in particular.

Harry was feeling awful, some part of him was truly mad at Ron for his words and actions and did't want to see him at all but another side of him was struggling with the guilt of causing so much pain to the Weasleys and wanted to repair it. He knew right then that he could forgive Ron instantly if he appeared back at the door.

"Daddy why did uncle Ron said all those things?" Lily asked

"I don't know Lils. He was on a bad mood, it happens to everyone. He'll be back."

Sirius didn't took his eyes off from him even when the kitchen went silent again.

After a couple of minutes he was convinced that he had to bring Ron back. It really didn't matter what he had said, Ron was still his friend and they needed to talk this over. Besides, if someone should be here with the Weasleys was Ron and not himself.

Then there was Ginny, she looked very hurt and troubled. "She must be feeling guilty." he thought. Harry couldn't take it anymore, he had to do something it was pretty hard for him to see her suffer like that.

"James could you take care of your sister?"

"Yes Dad."

Harry then took Lily off of his lap and seated her on the chair. "I'll be back Lils, have to go to the loo. Will you be ok?"

Lily nodded. Harry gave her one last hug before getting out of the kitchen determined to not return without Ron.

When Harry entered his room he walked to the trunk and started filling a bag of his own.

"What do you think that you're doing?" said a raspy voice.

Harry turned very slowly. "Sirius,.. I was.."

"Packing?" His godfather guessed leaning on the door's frame.

"Yeah"

"Why?"

"I don't need you to come here and tell me how valuable am I or that I need to be kept safe!" Harry yelled.

"I won't. You know that I'm not that kind of godfather, besides I know this place is boring." He answered with a grin.

"I need to find Ron, I cannot leave him like that. He's my friend."

"He didn't sound much like your friend some moments ago."

"He was not himself! He is still my friend.. it was a bad moment. You cannot judge him by that! He has always been by my side!" All of the anger that Harry had against himself burst out suddenly.

"Hey, Hey, Hey! calm down, pup. I know. Who do you think you're talking to? Don't you think that I know enough about misjudged friends?" he replied with his palms facing Harry in a surrender gesture.

"Sorry, Padfoot.. It's just that.."

"I know, but it's not your fault. You belong here."

"But.." Harry was not feeling like that, he felt like an intruder that came to the life of the Weasleys to disrupt it. At the end Ron did have some part of the truth. "It's not their fault! They need Ron, not me!" Harry sat heavily on his bed while he rubbed his face.

"Hey calm down! you have heard Molly you are as good as a son for her, and if you leave that will add more sorrow to her current situation."

Harry fell silent thinking about his godfather's words.

"Padfoot.."

"What's up?"

"Do you think that there was something wrong with him?" Harry asked.

Sirius sighed and took a moment to speak. "Well, I cannot really answer that. You know him way better than me. It is a possibility but it also could be old resents and jealousy exploding at once."

"I don't want to lose him. What should I do?"

Sirius sat besides him putting an arm over his shoulder. "If he is your true friend you won't no matter what. Trust me on this one. But listen to me, whatever you do think about it or you may end up doing the wrong thing." For a moment Sirius looked like a real parent figure.

Harry nodded.

"You know.. besides what that boy said you are not alone. You have me and you have other people to think about before taking a decision."

"Thanks, Padfoot."

Then a different voice came through the door and Harry raised his sight.

"Can I talk to him?"

Sirius smiled lightly. "Of course Mrs Potter." and he stood up winking at Harry.

Ginny's cheeks colored lightly but she was unable to form a smile.

"Not yet" was all that Ginny said.

"See you later pup" Sirius said and he exited the room closing the door.

Ginny walked towards him and sat by his side. Harry was surprised, Ginny had never attempted to talk so directly with him before, they didn't even know each other that well.

Harry's eyes didn't leave Ginny all the time it took her to walk from the door to his side. She was having a very hard time with Ron leaving it was obvious, her distress was visible in her brown eyes.

"Hi" he said.

"What are you doing?"

"I.. I don't know anymore. I was planning on finding Ron but.."

"Sirius?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah"

"Well you shouldn't. You don't know where he is and Bill will know better where he could go"

Harry sighed. "I guess you're right but.."

"This is not your fault" For a moment Harry was sure that the redheaded girl was reading his mind.

"It is, I'm really sorry for arguing with him like that."

"It's not your fault! I slapped him, remember?" Ginny looked at Harry very grimly. She was carrying a lot of guilt also and Harry didn't want her to feel like that, he was the only responsible about what had happened.

"Still he is my friend and I.."

"And he is my brother!" Ginny said and let her face fall on her hands while her long red mane hid her from Harry's sight.

Harry didn't know what to do, at that moment the whole incident with the Chamber of Secrets came back to him. It was as if he was seeing Ginny on that cold floor all over again with sorrow fogging her beautiful chocolate brown eyes, she had felt completely alone and guilty then. Harry didn't want that, seeing her smile was the best thing in the world and he wanted to see her smile again. He put a hand on her shoulder and spoke very quietly. "He will forgive you, he will return"

"Do you really think so?"

Harry nodded.

"I know that he was wrong when he said all of those horrible things but I cannot stop thinking that it's my fault that he left. He's my brother."

"He acted like a git and you know that, and besides the gifts unsettled him and that was my fault, not yours." Harry remembered perfectly how Ron's argument started.

Ginny raised her sight after a short silence. "Harry, Why did you give me those gifts? Those were really expensive, you didn't have to."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that he was going react like that. I though that he was fine with.. you know." he said lowering his face.

"I'm not blaming you. I want to know why you spent so much on me when I barely talk to you."

"Oh.. did you like them?"

"Love them. But.."

"Well there's not much to explain." Harry cut her off, he couldn't stop the traces of a smile from appearing on his face when she said that she loved the gifts but that soon faded.. "The broom was James' idea and you will need it if you plan to enter the team. The price is not important, I have the money and you worth it."

Ginny was speechless.

"The necklace.." Harry continued scratching his head trying to find the words to explain the gift. "Well, honestly Lily said that you liked rubies and I know you love Quidditch.. I thought that it would look good on you." By the time he finished Ginny was blushing.

The redheaded girl then clung to Harry's neck. "Thanks. It's beautiful." she said. Harry was startled but he didn't want her to separate from him so he hugged her back. He rested his face over her hair and a subtle essence of strawberries touched him. He couldn't avoid to take a slow breath of her hair and if Ginny noticed that she didn't say it.

"Harry," she said with her face still on his shoulder. "Don't leave."

Harry took a couple of seconds to register her words and he answered without separating from her. "I.. don't know. I feel like I owe it to him." he whispered on her ear.

"Don't leave." she repeated. "Percy left, Ron left, I cannot lose you too."

Harry was surprised, he didn't thought he was that important for Ginny yet. "Maybe if I go Ron will return." he said. If that could bring peace back to Ginny he would do it, he didn't want her to carry a burden like that. Everything was Harry's fault after all.

"I don't want you to go!" she yelled separating herself from the hug so she could look at him with her brown and moist eyes. The sight of the pleading girl disarmed Harry completely and he was left defenseless without a word coming out of his mouth.

"Did you see Hermione?" Harry was surprised by the question.

"Yeah"

"I'm sure that she just realized that she feels something about the prat of my brother and now he left. He left her here with two kids who are crying for their father." she paused for a moment. "Do you want me to be like that? Do you want to leave me with the kids all alone? If you do so I won't stay here you can be sure of that."

The image of a devastated Ginny came to him and then he knew that he wasn't going to allow that.

"I can't let you leave now" Ginny said. She wasn't asking anymore. At that moment was like he was seeing Ginny for the first time because the the girl that he had in front of him was very different from the image of Ron's little sister.

"Ok" that was all what Harry was able to say.

Ginny let out a sigh. "I really have to go, Hermione needs someone to talk to. Thanks, this helped me a lot. Would you mind looking after all the kids for a moment?"

"I'll go get them."

Ginny stood up and walked to the door.

Then Harry remembered his promise to Hermione. "Ginny" he said. The red-haired girl turned her face for a brief moment. "Can we talk.. some other time?"

Both of them went slightly red.

Ginny nodded and she left the room.


	11. Theories and Hopes

**HERMIONE**

* * *

"We need to go and look for him" she said spiritless. It was not a good idea, she knew it, but she just wanted him to be back and she didn't know what else to do.

"I also want to Hermione but we don't have enough information. I'll do some warning calls to our relatives while we wait for the tea."

Hermione sighed she knew that was the most logical thing to do but for some reason she didn't want logical now. In that moment she didn't want to be herself, she wanted to be like Harry and yell to everyone that this was not right no matter how logical it sounded. She wanted to drag everyone out and start looking street by street until they found him.

She nodded to Bill while Hugo and Rose hugged her, Hugo was still crying.

The tea was very depressing and all what Hermione wanted the whole time was Ron appearing at the front door saying that he wasn't going to leave her again. It was confusing, if the kids weren't there she could think that her sorrow was because she was losing one of her best friends but she wasn't sure of that anymore. The only thing she was sure of was that she missed him greatly, even when all the things he said were so wrong she just wanted to hear him again ranting about how it was too soon to start opening their books.

The moment from the morning when they had stared at each other kept coming back to her. She remembered being lost on those blue eyes and thinking that Ron was just perfect for her. All the day she had been thinking about it, wondering if Ron felt something too and if he would be able to mention it when they talked again. Now that talk seemed very far away.

"Mum" Hugo's voice caught her attention.

"Yes Hugo?" she managed to say trying to force a smile and failing at it. The boy looked so much like his father.

"When is dad going to come back?"

"Soon"

"Where is he?"

"He has things to do"

Hugo kept asking her things about Ron once in a while and Hermione always tried to answer shortly. Rose on the other hand knew better and hugged her mother constantly trying to comfort each other.

"Should I have followed him? Should I have taken the kids with us?" Those two questions kept wandering around in Hermione's mind even when she knew how crazy the idea of leaving was.

When she stood up from the table only Ginny's brothers and Harry's kids were still there. She made Bill promise that he would let her know if he knew something and she headed upstairs to her room. Once there and with Rose and Hugo with her she couldn't avoid her eyes from watering one more time, for a moment she wished to be alone so she could not restraint herself and yell at how a prat Ron was but the comfort that the kids gave her was soothing.

Then someone called at the door.

"Who is it?" she managed to ask hoping that it was Bill with some news.

"It's me" Ginny's voice sounded at the other side of the door.

Hermione let out a disappointment sigh and rubbed her eyes trying to take the moisture away. "Come in"

When she was inside Hermione could see her own suffering on her serious face, she was feeling guilty. Hermione couldn't stop remembering her actions from some moments ago and how that led to Ron leaving. Still she couldn't stop feeling sorry for Ginny, Ron was her brother after all and she was surely feeling really bad about everything.

"Kids, your uncle Harry is on the other room. He wants to play a game, can you go and look for him? I need to talk to your mum." Ginny said.

The kids looked at her mother and when she nodded Rose answered shortly. "Ok"

"Don't go anywhere else, and Rose take care of Hugo"

"Yes aunt Ginny"

When the kids left Ginny closed the door and sat before Hermione. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't know.. It's all very hard to believe."

"He's coming back, Harry said that and I want to believe him" Ginny answered.

Hermione let her face fall on her hands. "We are not sure of that. Voldemort is out there and Ron doesn't know anything about the Muggle World" Ginny didn't flinch this time.

"He should return, he is not stupid you know? When he's out of money and with nowhere to go he will return here."

"What if he's lost?"

"There is people looking for him, he could take the bus back to some place where the Order is checking. Like the Burrow." Ginny seemed like she was really believing what she was saying or trying very hard to convince herself.

"But what if he doesn't have any money left for the bus?.. What if Voldemort finds him first?.. or some Muggle criminals?" she said quickly.

"Hermione, calm down. I know that you like to think in all the possibilities but he will be alright, he can take care of himself. If something happens he can still use his wand."

Both girls then hugged trying to find comfort in each other. Hermione's thoughts wandered to the possibility of having Ron back and then to the redheaded boy wandering alone in the Muggle streets.

"Harry was trying to leave" Ginny dropped the words suddenly. Hermione's eyes opened up.

"Why? Where is he now?" Hermione tried to stand up but Ginny stopped her.

"I don't think he is going now. He's with the kids" Hermione sat down again. "He feels guilty about it."

"Guilty? Him? After all those horrible things that Ron said to him?" Hermione asked. "Only Harry" she thought to herself. It was strange knowing that Ginny noticed something like this when she didn't have a clue, she was usually the one to discover this kind of things.

"Yeah, I know. I slapped him and Harry feels guilty." Ginny lowered her sight.

Hermione really thought that Ginny shouldn't have done that but she knew that saying so could make her friend feel guiltier. "It's already done.. and besides Ron shouldn't have said all those things, I don't know where that came from. He was completely different yesterday."

"Harry thinks that the gifts altered him."

"Maybe but that's foolish and he was in a bad mood before that. Do you think it has something to do with what he said? about Harry being drunk?"

Ginny's eyes widened. "Darn!"

"What happened?"

"I forgot to ask Harry about that. Do you think it's true?"

"Well he did look pretty embarrassed but it definitely doesn't sound like something that Harry would do. We would have to ask him."

Ginny nodded and took a couple of seconds to speak again. "You know, there is something that I heard Sirius telling Harry before I entered his room and is really worrying me."

"What is it?"

"He said that there could be something wrong with Ron but he could also be just resentful."

Hermione thought for some moments before talking again. "He was not really himself but all of those things.. it seemed like he really meant those. I don't have a clue what has happened with him but I'll try to find it out. He's not like that."

"Do you think that the kids can know something?"

"The kids?" Hermione asked surprised.

"I mean, did this really happen in their timeline? If it did he will be back soon."

Hermione's eyes opened wide and her face paled.

"Hermione, what's wrong? You have heard the kids, everything is going to be alright. Rose and Hugo wouldn't exist otherwise."

"But.. Something changed." was all that she said. She was shocked.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked her.

"Something changed in the timeline. I'm almost sure of it. The kids changed something. Something important."

"What? Ron? how? The kids wouldn't want him to leave." Ginny said.

"I know they didn't do it on purpose, they changed something that caused this. It's the Butterfly effect" the bushy haired girl said. It all made sense for her, there was something wrong with Ron and she needed to find what it was.

"The Butterfly what?" Ginny was clueless.

"Well it is basically a time continuity theory, it says that our current state in time is the consequence not only of the big events that had happened but also of the little details. In other words the little changes can affect greatly the future."

Ginny stared at her in silence for a moment thinking about that. "You are saying that the timeline has already been changed? Because of something that the kids did?" Hermione nodded. "How can you know that?"

"I don't I only suppose. I believe that too much information from the kids has changed things. In particular the news of Sirius's death."

"Do you think that's why Harry was drinking"

"That's very likely and also I don't want you to feel bad for it but I don't think that Harry would have give you those gifts without the kids here."

"It's ok, you are right" Ginny said but Hermione couldn't stop feeling that her friend didn't like that.

Hermione's spirit was raised by the conversation, it all seemed easier for her when she had a goal, something to research about. She was going to have to speak to Harry and Sirius and that could give her some clues about why Ron acted like that.

The girls spoke a little more about Hermione's theories and about how real were Ron's words. Ginny ended up saying to Hermione that she had made a huge mistake by slapping her brother even when he was acting like a prat. It was time for Hermione to comfort Ginny. After a while the chat was so soothing for Hermione that she suddenly let out something surprising even herself.

"Ron asked me to go with him." she said causing Ginny's eyes to grow up like saucers and her mouth to drop in astonishment.

"He did?"

Hermione nodded. "When I ran upstairs trying to stop him."

"What did you say?"

"I said that it was a crazy idea." Hermione said recalling the events on Ron's room.

"Well it is a crazy idea. I'm glad you're here. If he didn't want to leave you then he should have stayed."

"I tried to explain how a bad idea that was, I said that he didn't have any money to leave and I think he misunderstood me.. I think I really hurt him" Hermione said and her eyes moistened like she could start crying any minute now.

Ginny rushed to hug her. "It's alright, it was the right thing to do."

".. now he thinks that all I care about is money.. I may have complicated things, now he really hates Harry." she said.

"Everything will be ok, the three of you will be friends back again in no-time" the redheaded girl said to her.

The guilt was unbearable for Hermione, she kept picturing herself saying to Ron that he didn't have any money and every time she imagined how that sounded on Ron's mind a big pain and guilt surrounded her. Lucky enough for her she had Ginny to listen to her.

When dinner time came she wanted to go downstairs but Ginny didn't wanted her to, she said that she was going to say to everybody that she wasn't feeling alright.

"If there were any important news they would have told us already. I'll come here to tell you how is the searching going after dinner. You need to rest."

"No! I'm coming down. I need to hear everything."

Ginny sighed in defeat. "Ok but go wash yourself. You don't want to disturb your kids, do you?"

Dinner was very depressing since all the news that they had were a bunch of reports from all the people that hadn't found Ron. They looked for him at the Burrow, at his aunt's house and at other relatives' houses but he was nowhere to be found. They even looked at Privet Drive since he went there a couple of times and that was the only Muggle place he knew.

It was clear that Ron's family was torn apart. Mrs Weasley couldn't come down to make dinner so Ginny and Harry tried to took over. Bill was very stressed, his father was taking care of Mrs Weasley so it was Bill who started moving the search forward. Hermione was surprised when she found out that he had even battled with his pride and went to Percy's place to ask for him. The night was coming and Ron was out there without money or knowledge of the Muggle World and that worried everybody in the kitchen.

The Order had managed to send a few people around looking for him and they were going to be out the entire night. There were also some people at the Ministry ready to run after him if his trace was activated, so far he hadn't done any magic.

Owls were sent, relatives were being visited and people were looking for him all over the place. That was their plan and even when it didn't seem like a perfect plan it was all that they got. Hermione knew that it was the best that they could do but it wasn't enough.

Everytime the thought of going out herself to look for him crossed her mind she tried to dismiss the idea. She had almost no chances of finding him and she couldn't leave Rose and Hugo all alone after what had happened.

"What if he gets back and I'm not here." she also thought.

Hermione tried to contribute to the search on her own way so she wrote to him personally, using Pig. It was a short letter pointing out that he misunderstood her words and that they needed to talk.

When dinner was over Hermione was ready to ask Harry and Sirius about last night but she saw that both of them were really tired and grim. Bill had asked everybody to go upstairs and get some sleep and against her own desires she agreed, the kids were not going to go up without them and they looked extremely tired.

She made a mental note to talk to Harry after the hearing.

"Merlin, hope that doesn't change!" her thought was focused on the hearing and on the Minister. "That could go really bad." The idea of the kids affecting the hearing was scary but it was quickly substituted on Hermione's mind for a bigger fear that she didn't considered when she thought that the kids were going to leave soon: the Wizarding World finding out about them.

What could happen next? The kids were a proof that Harry was telling the truth but they were also there by illegal means. They couldn't risk the kids, if Voldemort found about them then he would try to change things so he could win this time.. if he found out then the kids could be in great danger.

It was like her life had turned instantly in bunch of worries.

Nobody found a peaceful sleep that night at Grimmauld place, Hermione had nightmares about Voldermort finding Ron and about Voldemort finding the kids. When she finally got some sleep it was not long before dawn could reach them.

In what seemed like minutes later she woke up and was surprised to find out that Ginny and Lily were not at bed anymore, It was early and Ginny was not exactly a morning person. She dressed up and discovered that Rose was already awake.

"I couldn't sleep" she said.

"Why didn't you woke me up?" Hermione asked.

"Aunt Ginny said that you couldn't sleep last night and that you needed to rest" Hermione was surprised to find out that Ginny noticed that. The fact was that she had a hard time trying to rest when she knew that Ron was somewhere outside without a roof or a bed.

"Why didn't you go down with her?"

"I wanted to be with you." Hermione smiled slightly. She still had the kids and that comforted her, they were wonderful kids and she was starting to feel the need to protect them at any cost.

Hermione was more relaxed than the previous night but the sorrow of Ron's absence was still way too heavy. She had to help in something or she was going to lose her head. She planned in talking with Harry and Sirius about her theory and also on going to the library to look for Black family relics that could alter the behavior, they had spend a lot of time cleaning the house and Ron could have been altered by some weird artifact.

"What if he wasn't altered by any artifact? What if he really meant to say all of those things?" Hermione didn't know what to think, something controlling him was not a common thing but accepting that he could act like that was really hard for her. The things that he had yelled to Harry had nothing to do with the Ron she knew. Last year he had been jealous of Harry drawing all the attention but even at the worst moments he hadn't even been close to yell at him things like the ones that he had said the previous day.

She tried to think on the other side of the story but she couldn't justify what he did. They had never favored Harry over him they just protected him more because he was in more danger all the time but that didn't mean that they were against Ron or that they preferred Harry. Ginny had been unable to control herself but Hermione knew that Ron was acting totally out of himself by that point, it was not only Ginny's fault.. entirely.

"No, Ron shouldn't have acted like that" she thought thinking at the moment when he had accused her of trying to take Harry from Ginny.

"Mum, What are you thinking?" Rose asked looking at her.

Hermione was distracted on her own thoughts so she took a moment to answer. "Oh, eh.. it's just that there are some things I have to do, I have to visit the library later." that was not a lie, she had to check about something that could have affected Ron and she also needed some time to think about her Butterfly Effect Theory, she still had to find the event that could have changed in this timeline.

"It's about Dad?" she asked, Hermione was surprised and when she didn't answered the girl spoke again. "He is not like that, something happened to him."

Hermione nodded. "I know"

"Is he coming back?" the girl asked very sad.

Hermione was scared by the possibility of not seeing Ron again. "What if he ran to a different city?" Hermione pushed the thought away. "He has to return" she said to both of them since she also needed to believe that herself.

"I never saw him like that" Rose said and it appeared like her eyes were moistening.

Hermione felt the need to ask something that she had had in mind since the day the kids arrived. "Do we fight a lot? I mean in the future?"

Rose nodded but she was smiling which Hermione thought that was kind of weird. "Uncle Harry says that is your private way of flirting. You argue a lot but not for too long, usually Dad gives up and most of the times you end up hugging or kissing" Hermione's cheeks were red. "Sometimes you're smiling all the time that the argument lasts."

Hermione thought about that before asking her next question. "Is he a good father?"

"The best, you say that all the time"

Both girls were smiling now.

"That's good news considering that he never likes to do the things as they should be done" Hermione said with a smile trying to imagine Ron as a responsible man that sends his kids to study instead of playing Quidditch with them. Her eyes were moist, she really missed him.

Rose thought about that for a moment and then she spoke. "You always say that the best thing that you like about him is that he's nothing like you."

Hermione was surprised by that but she smiled. "Let's go downstairs, they're maybe waiting us for breakfast"

Both girls exited the room then with much hopeful thoughts. Hermione was more determined than ever to find Ron.


	12. Waiting for News

**GINNY**

* * *

It was not even six o'clock when Ginny woke up the day after her birthday and she was not willing to go back to sleep. The nightmares had been haunting her all night, not letting her forget about the previous day events.

Ron had acted very strange that was for sure and he had no right to say all those awful things to Harry. He had even mention his parents' death and that was just so wrong that Ginny was unable to contain herself. Now she couldn't handle the remorse of thinking that it was her fault that Ron was not with them this morning.

Her brother had not return last night it was not hard to guess that. If he had returned the whole house would have woken up by now. Bill would have let them know, her brother knew perfectly well that giving those news could make everyone sleep better. No, he didn't return.

The first thing that Ginny saw were two sad brown eyes that were fixed on her. Lily was hugging her, it was clear that the whole situation had hit very strong on the kids.

"Get back to sleep." Ginny whispered.

"I want to go with you" Ginny thought about insisting but then she saw Hermione fast asleep on the other bed. Her friend was exhausted and she needed some rest so Ginny was not going to argue loudly now. It was very late when Ginny managed to get some sleep last night and as far as she remembered Hermione was still wiggling around her bed at that time.

"Ok, but hurry up and keep it quiet, Aunt Hermione is very tired." she answered quietly and they dressed without making any noise.

When they were exiting the room she noticed that Rose was also awake and looking at her.

"Do you want to come too?" Ginny whispered still holding the door open.

Rose shook her head and Ginny smiled at her niece. "Take care of her. She was awake all night, she needs to rest." Ginny whispered again and she saw a slow nod from the girl before closing the door.

Downstairs Harry and her dad were already getting ready for the hearing.

"Where's mum?" was the first that Ginny asked. She didn't remember of one time were her mother was not the first one to wake up in the house so her absence was notorious.

"She's not feeling well sweetheart, it was very hard for her.. yesterday." Ginny noticed how her father was not looking good either. "Take good care of her, please."

After nodding Ginny made the question that she had been waiting to ask since she went to sleep the night before. "Any news?"

"I'm afraid that we don't have any, he doesn't want to be found." Ginny let out a heavy sigh.

Ginny nodded briefly and took the time to greet everybody in the kitchen, even when it was very early Professor Lupin, Tonks and Sirius were already there. A moment after that she noticed that her father was walking towards the main door. "Are you leaving already?"

"Almost" he answered.

"Harry.." Ginny turned then to look at Harry, he looked awfully tired. "did you eat something?"

"Eh yes, I made something quick for me and your dad, we were in a hurry. Could you give something to Al?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll manage to make something eatable." A light smile peeked out of the corner of Harry's mouth.

"We're leaving now." Ginny's father announced to the people in the kitchen. "I'll keep my eyes open for news about Ron at the Ministry."

"Good luck Harry. You already know that you get out of this." Tonks was completely exhausted.

"Of course he will, or I'll be saying a couple of things to Amelia.." Sirius barked and Professor Lupin just rolled his eyes.

"She'll surely be eager to listen to a fugitive" Professor Lupin said quietly and no-one had the spirit to laugh so shortly after the events from the previous day.

Albus and Lily then came forward to hug their father.

"When are you coming back?" Lily asked.

"Don't worry Lils, I'll be here before lunch" Harry answered with an encouraging smile.

"Is Uncle Ron coming back with you?" Lily asked with a serious look on her face.

Everybody in the room tensed at that question. "Eh.. we'll see if he's around Lily" Ginny's father answered.

"Ok GrandPa"

At that moment Harry raised his sight and his green eyes stopped on Ginny. Harry hadn't let go of the kids and Ginny couldn't stop feeling that she belonged there with him and the her two sons, so without thinking about it Ginny rushed to them and hugged Harry warmly catching the kids in between.

It was weird but that moment gave her a brief calm that she had been missing since Ron left.

"I'll be waiting you for lunch too." she whispered to Harry's ear and gave him a peck on the cheek before letting him go.

Harry's eyes opened wide and he turned slightly red, he nodded slowly. Ginny was also blushing, she couldn't believe what she just did but she was glad that she did it.

Ginny's father smiled weakly and the next moment he and Harry were out of the house. Ginny was suddenly nervous. The kids were a proof that the hearing had gone well the previous time but after her talk with Hermione she wasn't sure anymore about what to expect.

"Everything will turn up fine. You'll have him here in no-time." Tonks said to her.

Ginny nodded blushing, Sirius was giving her a very mischievous grin.

Breakfast was a mess, Ginny wasn't sure how her mother managed to do it everyday.

"What's going on?" Hermione said when she entered the kitchen, she had noticed Ginny's problems with the stove.

"Mum is still sleeping, yesterday was a rough day for her." Ginny said and Hermione rushed to help her.

"Any news?" the girl asked with a hopeful tone.

"None, the Order hadn't stop looking but he is nowhere to be found." Tonks said. Ginny really wished that they had a better answer.

"Oh" Hermione said sadly.

"Don't worry Hermione, no news is good news. If something wrong had happened to him we should had known by now." Professor Lupin tried to cheer her up, he looked awful but that could be easily explained by last night's full moon.

"But what about the Muggle dangers.. he doesn't know nothing about those."

"There are Muggle borns in the Order also they are keeping track of those kind of things." this seemed to calm her down.

Hermione tried to focus on helping Ginny with the breakfast but she quickly remembered something else to ask about. "Harry, the hearing!"

"He left already" Ginny said. "Dad took him as planned, we are supposed to keep an eye on Mum."

"You saw him? How long have you been awake?"

"I have the bad luck that my kids wake up very early. They got that from their father." Ginny snorted, that was true even when this time she had woken up all by herself.

"James needs someone to wake him up. He is more like you" Albus said. Ginny blushed a bit, it seemed that her kids had a secret agreement to put her in embarrassing situations.

The twins came shortly after and when they didn't got information about Ron's whereabouts they proceed to eat breakfast silently. The rest of the morning was uneventful since no-one seemed willing to start a meaningful conversation. Professor Lupin and Tonks were really tired so they left soon after eating promising to let them know if they got news from Ron.

The hearing was the next thing to focus on but even when the kids' presence pointed out that everything was going to be alright Ginny couldn't stop worrying about it. Her mind kept imagining all kind of things that could be affecting the hearing outcome, so she spent her waiting time worrying about Harry's trial. She also thought a lot about her brother's still uncertain fate, the guilt had not abandoned her even after Harry's and Hermione's words.

"Is Uncle Ron coming back today?" Albus asked her.

"We don't know"

"When is he coming back then?" Lily who had been close asked. "I miss him"

"Soon" Ginny answered.

"He was acting weird" Albus said as he went to the other side of the table looking for his brother.

Her fears turned out to be foolish when Harry entered the house with the news that he was released from all charges. Ginny didn't even think it twice to run and hug him as everybody was congratulating him. The kids did the same and soon enough they were looking as a happy family again. When she let go of him she noticed some weird looks being thrown at her, specially from Hermione.

No more cheers were given to Harry because no-one was on the mood of celebrating anything, even the twins barely said a word. Quicker than expected lunch came and they were still on the table trying to carry on a conversation.

"Molly sweetheart, you need to rest" Ginny's father had said to his wife when she prepared herself for lunch.

"I'm ok Arthur, I have already missed two meals and I'm not going to let this family fall apart!" After that he couldn't do anything.

Hermione was ready to stand up to help her out but Ginny knew better. "Leave her, it makes her feel better." the redheaded whispered to her friend.

Sooner than expected everybody forgot about the hearing and Ron came back to their thoughts, the kitchen turned grimmer. After lunch Ginny's father managed to take his wife all the way up - she was sobbing again about Ron - but she promised to be back by dinner. Moments later the twins also returned to their room and Hermione took the opportunity to ask them to watch over the children for awhile.

"Eh Harry"

"Yeah?" the boy raised his sight.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday, at dawn.."

The black haired boy went red but he couldn't say a thing, Ginny was looking very interested.

"I'm not going to scold you, I'm just trying to find out what happened to Ron." Harry raised an eyebrow and Sirius looked questioningly. Ginny knew what this was about.

Hermione then proceed to explain her theory to them, when she finished both looked pretty worried that the timeline could have changed this badly. They narrated the events that took place then but the information didn't clarified anything. According to Harry, Ron was acting normal when he took him upstairs and it appeared that he even joked about it. Everything pointed at the breakfast as the time when Ron started acting strange but that didn't made sense for Hermione who had been almost sure that something happened to him when he woke up to take Harry upstairs.

Later that day Sirius - who had told the Order about Hermione's theory - was explaining to all of them that Dumbledore suspected that the timeline had changed. The headmaster was already making plans about this, he was also starting to consider the possibility that the children were still there when September arrived.

"But what about Hogwarts? We can't leave them here! They want to be with us, this place will depress them." Ginny said.

"I know kiddo, but we cannot let anyone see them also. Voldemort is out there." Sirius said. "I'll be watching over your kids, after all I cannot go anywhere else." he finished with a dreary tone.

Ginny knew he was right, they couldn't just appear at the Great Hall saying 'Hey everybody! meet my unborn children!'.

"We still need to see them, at least once" Hermione said, she sounded as worried as Ginny.

"We'll think about something" Sirius said. "Now don't get worried yet, we still have some days before Hogwarts, we can still manage to send them back."

Rose and Hugo barely talked the entire day, many people tried to cheer them up but it was useless. Hermione made a huge effort to force some smiles but she couldn't get them to be joyful again, it was just not possible. How could they be happy if their father was lost and their grandmother was devastated in bed? Ginny even noticed the depressed mood on her own kids and the guilt came back to her.

"Is Daddy going to sleep with us tonight?" Lily said when they were getting ready for bed.

Ginny didn't even blush this time. "We can't Lily, Aunt Hermione is very sad because Uncle Ron is missing. We cannot leave her alone."

"Oh, ok" the girl said, Hermione showed no reaction at the comment.

This time it was Hermione who fell asleep first, she was very tired. "He's not like that" she heard her mumble in her dream.

"I know" Ginny whispered.

The next couple of days were basically more of the same. Ginny's mother kept coming down but it was mostly at meals, she still cried once in a while. There were no news from Ron yet which was very sad and very weird, Ginny didn't know why he hadn't return yet if he didn't have money for food.

Hermione had asked James to draw the mask for her and as soon as she had the paper on her hands she stormed to the library. Ginny visited her once but her friend was so focused that she barely raised her head to answer to Ginny's questions. Hermione was very in touch with Bill also since they discussed a couple of times about places were Ron could be or ways to contact him.

Harry on the other hand was looking very impatient and Ginny knew that he was having a hard time trying to keep his promise of not running after Ron, she even talked to him a couple of times so he didn't forget about not leaving her alone. One of those times she took the opportunity to bring up one topic that had been on her mind, the night before her birthday.

Harry turned very red. "It was only a glass, I don't know what happened. It was like it never emptied."

Ginny smirked. "Harry those glasses refill themselves"

Harry's eyes opened wide and he blushed in embarrassment. "Oh, I didn't know that."

"Well you do now. You don't want to give your kids a bad image"

They remained quiet for some moments more until Ginny broke the silence with a weak voice, she wasn't smiling anymore. "Do you think that he's alright?"

Harry was taken aback by the question but he answered honestly. "I don't know"

"He hasn't answer to Hermione's letter and the Order doesn't know where he is." Ginny then felt all the weight of her frustration coming at her.

"He'll be back" Harry tried to calm her but he didn't sound very convinced himself.

"What if he doesn't want to come back? What if he doesn't want to see us again? I just.." Ginny was now trying to contain the tears. "I just wish I had not been so stupid.. that I could take back what I did but.." Ginny let herself fall on Harry's shoulder.

She wasn't used to cry or fall apart like that, she had six older brothers and she was used to being tough but at that moment it was just too much, the guilt was taking a lot from her and she didn't know what she was supposed to do now.

Ginny didn't even noticed when Harry put his arm around her. He didn't say anything he was just there and that was all what she needed.

"Oh" Hermione who was just entering the room said, she was surely surprised about finding Ginny leaning on Harry. "I'll be back later"

"No, it's ok. Stay." Ginny said trying to clean her tears with her wrist as she separated herself from Harry. Hermione looked surprised of seeing her crying but she walked to her and gave her a quick hug.

"Are you alright?"

Ginny nodded. "What did you find?"

Hermione's face made a gesture to express her disappointment.

It turned out that she hadn't found anything useful at the library so far. The runes on the mask were apparently very hard to decipher and the more similar ones were in some books with weird languages. She didn't find any Black family item that could make Ron act as he did either.

They didn't have nothing, no news were coming from Ron, they were stuck in there and they needed to think about what to do with the kids if they were still there by September.

Ginny went to bed that night with an unpleasant feeling, Sirius words about the kids being there when they had to go to Hogwarts were unsettling. She hadn't thought a lot about letting the kids go but when she did it was surely to send them back to their time not to leave them alone in that awful house.

Then there was Ron, Ginny didn't know if he would be back by that time and going without him just felt wrong.

Ginny was lost on her own thoughts when Hermione spoke. "Do you know what are you going to do about Michael?"

"Michael?" Ginny asked she was surprised of being addressed and she was trying to understand what her friend was trying to say.

"Michael Corner? Your boyfriend?"

Ginny's eyes then widened in realization. "Merlin! I forgot about him!"


	13. Loneliness

**Hermione**

* * *

The days after the hearing passed really slowly for the people at Grimmauld Place. Still there were no news about Ron.

He hadn't contacted them, the Order hadn't found him or even saw him, nothing was heard about him in the Ministry and Hermione's letters hadn't been answered yet.

Harry was grimmer with everyday that passed and he was always eager to ask for the inexistent news about his friend. Professor Lupin and Sirius said that they were afraid that he may try to run after Ron any day but he didn't. Hermione found that weird since Harry was very impulsive but she thought that Ginny surely had something to do with it. Even so, Professor Lupin's words about Harry wanting to go after Ron got to Mrs Weasley's ears once and she ended up talking to Harry.

"I need you here, Harry. I have already lost Percy and R-Ron.. please don't leave too." the tone she used was indisputable so Harry just nodded.

Ginny was also very sad and even when Hermione and Harry kept telling her that it was not her fault she couldn't stop blaming herself for reacting like that with her brother. The kids were depressed and they didn't stop asking questions about Ron, Hermione didn't know what to say to Hugo anymore. There were not as much laughter from them as the first day, Lily even cried once in a while saying that she wanted to go home. The entire house had a serious lack of joy and not even the twins could cheer things up - the fact was that they were also very out of themselves.

Cleaning was suspended at first since Mrs Weasley was unable to carry on with it but after a few days everyone restarted it voluntarily. Even the twins seemed willing to find something in which to distract their thoughts about Ron.

Everyone began slowly to return to their usual activities and they stopped asking for news at every minute, even so the sadness didn't lift an inch from the atmosphere. Harry was confused at first because most of his normal activities involved Ron but soon enough he managed to distract himself. He spent more time than usual on school work and most of his afternoons were consumed cleaning, the time he had left was demanded by his kids or by Ginny who now seemed much more closer to him. Hermione thought that it was only matter of time before those two started dating and that was only because they needed some peace with themselves after the whole situation with Ron.

"Things are definitely changing in this timeline" she thought. At first she was surprised to find out that Harry was marrying Ginny in the future but now they seemed so right for each other. Still Hermione had some doubts about Harry, mostly about what he was really feeling for Ginny and Cho right now.

There was also Michael Corner, Ginny's boyfriend. After talking to her it was obvious that she was going to end everything with him but she looked pretty troubled at first. One day she asked Hermione what she could do to end things up with Michael and the only good option that they could think about was on waiting until September.

"You cannot end things with him by owl." Hermione said.

On the other hand Hermione was feeling very alone. She had lost Ron and the opportunities to talk to Harry were very rare since most of the time he was with Ginny or the kids. Ginny tried to talk to her constantly but her time was also very focused on the kids and Harry so most of the days they could only talk at their room before sleeping. Hermione felt kind of jealous because they at least had each other, she wondered what will happen once they arrived at Hogwarts. Will Harry return to spent more time with her? Will he hang around Ginny? How was their relation going to be once that they were near Cho and Michael Corner?

"Do you think that Ron could be there at the station on September 1st?" Harry asked once.

"I don't know Harry, let's hope for that but we are still looking with the Order's means." Mr Weasley answered him. Mrs Weasley insisted in buying his school things in case he appeared there. Hermione hadn't lost hope.

During the course of the days Hermione got to spend more time around her kids but most of it was a very sad time because the three of them kept thinking about Ron. Hermione discovered that Rose was indeed an almost exact copy of herself not only physically but also on hobbies and interests, the only difference was that this girl was a complete Quidditch fan and not as knowledgeable in Muggle things as she was at her age. Crookshanks seemed to like her a lot. It was very relaxing talking to her. Hugo was in most part a little Ron which caused Hermione to stare at him once in a while, the boy had Ron's looks, appetite, heavy sleep and general interests but still Hermione noticed that he had something that his father didn't - sensibility. Hugo was a kind and thoughtful boy and even when he may not have all of Ron's qualities it was clear that he was a wonderful boy.

Hermione tried to distract herself from the depressing thought with constant visits to the library. So far she hadn't found anything useful but she hadn't let go of hope.

Still there were more bad news to come since the kids kept slipping information from the future. The things that hit the most of them were obviously the deaths and soon they found out about Moody's and Dumbledore's, the death of the headmaster was specially hard on the Order but Dumbledore saw that as an unimportant information.

"We all go some day" he said. "And besides you already know that I'm not indespensable to end this war."

Then it all went even worse when Fred's death was revealed. Hermione was crashed by that information but that was nothing compared to all the Weasley's mood.

"My children!" Mrs Weasley had yelled painfully, there were just too many bad news for her. Mr Weasley tried to take her upstairs but it was useless because she didn't want to separate from a pale Fred. "I'm not going anywhere! I want to be with my baby!"

Everyone else was shocked and sadness submerged them even deeper in a hole of uncertainty about the new future. Ginny cried that day which was something extremely rare on her and Harry found a weird way to get some of the guilt. George was even paler than Fred.

"We'll change it! It won't happen this time!" Was all what Harry had said to Hermione moments later when they were discussing about how much could they change of the future.

Everything was just wrong.

When September 1st was around the corner Dumbledore came to announce that indeed a professor Umbridge was going to be their next Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, when the kids heard this they started to say a lot of awful things about the woman but it was clear that the headmaster had tried very hard to find a teacher and he had failed so the Ministry succeed in appointing theirs. Hermione attributed Dumbledore's fail to the lack of popularity and bad campaign that Fudge was doing against him.

It was impossible to take the children with them without being caught by Umbridge or any other student and that was a big problem. Neither Harry, Ginny or Hermione wanted to separate from them and it was clear that even when they would have their grandparents the kids didn't want to be apart from their parents for such a long time. Dumbledore agreed to let the kids visit once in a while under controlled circumstances.

The Hogwarts letters finally arrived one day before they had to return to school and Hermione found out that she had been named a prefect, she couldn't have care less about it with the current situation. Still she was surprised that Harry wasn't named prefect which left her wondering who could be her partner, Harry was obviously a far better choide for prefect than any of the remaining fifth year boys. Was Ron also being considered by the headmaster in case he made it to the station?

"But why can't we go with you!?" Lily was crying very loudly.

"It's dangerous Lily but we will try to see you soon. We will miss you a lot." Ginny was trying to comfort the little girl, she was having a hard time trying to separate from the kids. Hermione understood her very well since she was also finding the goodbyes very difficult to say.

"You behave, do as your Gradma and GrandPa tells you."

"But this is very boring! we cannot even go outside! we want to go too." James was trying to convince Harry.

"You can't, is dangerous. You have to stay, you'll be fine uncle Padfoot will take care of you. I promise that we'll be back in December and we'll have lots of fun then."

"Uncle Bill and Tonks will be around too. They are fun." Ginny tried to look positive but her face said a different thing.

It was very hard to leave with a bunch of kids crying like that. Hermione was officially feeling like a mother, she could just not bear to leave Hugo like that. She caressed a lock of his hair and told him that everything was going to be alright.

Hermione gave a huge hug to Rose. "I'll miss you mum!"

"I will miss you too, you can write once in a while but make sure to let your grandparents see the letter before you send it. The situation is complicated outside." Rose nodded, all of the kids had been told that they had to be very careful on writing to them.

Sirius was cursing lowly with his arms crossed. He had been planning to join them in the trip to the station in his animagi form but he needed to stay with the kids because no-one else could do it.

"Why it has to be me? I'm not even that good with the kids"

"You'll learn" Mrs Weasley replied.

"I have months for learning that I want to be with Harry today."

"You can say your goodbyes here."

Sirius snorted. "I want to be there.. see him boarding the train"

"Sirius Black! that's enough you're being childish.. everybody else is guarding and I'm not losing the chance to see Ron if he's there!" that was the end of the conversation. Harry complained once more about the whole guard going just to keep him safe.

They arrived just a few minutes before the train left but they waited until the last second to board. Everyone kept turning around the place looking for Ron but it was useless.

Hermione, Harry, Ginny and the twins boarded the train with grim expressions and Hermione caught a glimpse of a crying Mrs Weasley as the train started to move.

"Come on! let's find a free compartment" Harry said.

Hermione seemed to remember something. "Eh, you go on I have to go to the prefects carriage. I don't think it'll take me all the journey, just have to receive instructions from the Head Boy and Head Girl. I have to patrol from time to time also.. I'll join you soon."

"Oh, ok" Ginny said. "Come on Harry, let's find a good one.. most of them must be occupied by now."

Hermione walked heavily through the train until she reached the prefects carriage, when she opened the door most of the prefects were already there. Her eyes traveled across the different faces trying to identify who was her partner as Gryffindor's fifth year prefect. When she found him her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped open without even noticing that she hadn't released the door knob yet.

There - at the left end of the room - a redheaded boy was sitting with his blue eyes lost, looking at the distance.


	14. Homeless

**RON**

* * *

Ron woke up early again that day, his life had changed completely and there were too many reasons why he couldn't allow himself to oversleep. He was living on the streets and after the two most difficult days of his life he was not sure anymore of how much of it he could take. In fact he only managed to survive until that point because he exchanged the little money he had for some Muggle coins, the guy who did the exchange was fascinated with the 'fake coins'. Ron knew that the Ministry wouldn't approve to be throwing Wizarding money as that to Muggles but he was starving and he had no choice left.

Either way his resources were disappearing. The Muggle money was already gone and every time he tried to get a job he ended up making everybody think that he was crazy because of his almost inexistent knowledge of the Muggle World.

"Come on Ron! how different can a waiter be in the Muggle World!?" he yelled at himself every time he was rejected.

All what Ron had left was that heavy locket that he now wore under his shirt at all time. He knew that he could get a considerable amount of money for it but he refused to sell it for the same reason that he hadn't beg for money, pride. That locket was from Sirius' and even when he was not happy with him he was not a thief, he only forgot to give it to him before rushing out of that dreadful house. Selling the locket would be like admitting that he needed their money and he was not going to take that path.

A couple of times now some homeless people had tried to take it from him but he had managed to keep the locket with him. One of those times he had ran away and the guy was not able to catch him, the second Ron had thrown him away with some kind of accidental magic or that was what he thought. For a few hours Ron had been scared that the Ministry would find him for having used magic but when no-one appeared Ron suspected that they could not track accidental magic.

Ron was getting hungry and he needed some food desperately. His options were limited since all the Magical World was now out of reach from him, he could not appear at the Leaky Cauldron or at some relatives' home without the Order finding him out. He didn't want to be found, he still had many things to think about. Back when he first touch the streets he had felt an instant remorse of what he had said but every time that he considered going bakc a voice inside his head reminded him the way that they treated him, he couldn't go back now.

"They don't need me anymore." he muttered to himself.

Ron then reached his right pocket and stared at the letter that was his only help. The day before when he had saw Hermes he had been very reluctant to even read the piece of paper but now he had to admit that it was his only way. He didn't want to accept nothing from him after all he was also a git but he could give him some hints about the Muggle World.

"Ronald" he said as he opened the door of his flat. "I'm glad to see you, I didn't know if the indications on the letter were clear enough."

"You didn't tell to anyone that I was coming, right?" Ron seemed nervous trying to peek at the inside of Percy's place.

"I haven't, but the way you are doing things is not the correct one. You are not even of age yet."

A frown was formed on Ron's face, he didn't have come this far spending his last Muggle coin in transportation to get lectured. "I'm doing what I had to do, now can you help me or not?" he spat.

"Come on in, I have some food and we can discuss about this."

Even when Ron didn't like the idea of accepting anything from his brother he also knew that turning back was a clear defeat at this point.

"You need a bath" he said after the almost silent lunch had ended. Ron was startled. "And a good sleep,.. on a bed."

"I'm not here for your pity! I only came because I thought you could give me an advice. I don't know how to get one of these Muggle jobs"

"And what are you going to do once you get it? Are you going to live as a waiter or sweeping the streets all of your life?"

"I'll see then."

Percy was analysing him in deep and after a moment he let out a sigh. "You are going the wrong way Ronald, Dad may be mistaken in some points but that is where you need to be. You are under age and I know that they are worried, specially our mother."

"How would you know..?" Then Ron's eyes went wide. "You have been talking to them! They know that I am here!" Ron stood up from the table.

"William came to ask about you the first day, how do you think that I even knew that you had escaped?"

The idea of Bill coming and asking Percy for a favour was completely insane, Ron knew Bill and that was surely the last thing that he would want. "You traitor!"

"I haven't call them but I think that it is the best thing to do. You can remain here while they arrive."

Ron was fuming "And how do you plan to keep me here you git?"

"Ronald, don't make this more difficult." Percy said standing up and taking out his wand. "I can't help you, I am not your legal guardian."

"Oh I see..! so the prefect is afraid of breaking the law. You're just a stupid lapdog from the Ministry!"

Percy was surprised by his brother reaction but he quickly got back at him. "This is not about the Ministry. The Ministry is my job and the law here, but this is about you being foolish. You're not getting anywhere with those actions, you're not better on the street than you were following that liar friend of yours."

Ron was taken aback by the mention of Harry. He wanted to talk bad about that stupid git and his stupid money but he also knew that he was not a liar, at least not in that point.

"He's a selfish git but he is not lying!" Ron yelled as he headed to the door.

Percy was surprised by the way that Ron addressed Harry but he followed him to the door. "Ronald! you won't make it out there, you don't know anything about that World and you don't have anyone to help you there."

Ron then felt the rage increase in him. "You're useless.." a hissing voice came on his head and Ron was almost sure that it was Harry's voice. He stopped and turned back.

"Neither do you! You're just a stupid mouthy kid that feels all respectable now!" Ron was boiling and Percy was taken aback.

"Hurt him.." the voice again.

Ron was now walking towards him pointing his finger right on the middle of Percy's chest. "Harry is not my friend but he is saying the truth. He is back! and he'll kill you because you are just too.. BLOODY.. BLIND!"

Percy's eyes were opened as saucers, he was retreating from the door.

Ron was red in anger. "I can see your gravestone now! PERCIVAL WEATHERBY.. no-one's friend.. no-one's brother.. prefect once.." by this time Percy was completely shocked.

Percy mumbled something but it was weak and not understandable.

"I'm leaving! I can't stand you anymore!" Ron said, he turned around and slammed the door behind him.

By the next day Ron was starving. The voices on his head were getting louder and they kept saying that he needed to steal food and money. Ron didn't know anymore if the voices were just his conscience or if he was getting mad but he was not willing to steal anything.

Then when he was about to pass out of the hunger he saw Hermes coming at him. The note was brief and it was accompanied by a package.

Ronald

I haven't told anyone. You should consider going back.

Percival Ignatius Weasley

Ron then moved his attention reluctantly to the package. Percy had sent food and some recommendations about how to get the job he asked for. Ron didn't know what to think about Percy's actions but he took the food joyfully.

The next days were much brighter for him, he did get a job helping on a warehouse and at least his food problem was solved. He also managed to get a cheap room meant for students where he avoided questions whenever possible.

He had much more time and peace to think about what he was doing next, he definitely didn't want to go back but making a life on the Muggle World was not what he wanted.

Hogwarts didn't look like a good option. He knew that they would be waiting for him there.

Pig was with him, he had brought a letter from Hermione the first day and he returned every night to him, he envied it since it never had a problem to find food. Ron hadn't had the courage to open Hermione's letter or to answer to all the other letters that he had received so Pig was more valuable as a company than as a messenger.

Hermione was a complex topic for him, she had been around his mind since he left that house and he couldn't stop himself from thinking about her every now and then. There were so many things that told him that he needed to be back with her and the kids but he couldn't put away the idea that he was more interested in Harry than in himself.

"I'm like a consolation prize to her." he kept thinking.

One night he decided to open the letter. It was a simple letter it didn't mention Harry or the problem at all, it only said that she needed him and that they needed to talk. For one moment Ron felt the urge to run at her at least to look at her face one more time but a sensation made him remain on his seat.

"It's a trap.." he thought that a voice was telling him.

He went to sleep that night still thinking about her.

"Ronald.. Ronald Weasley.." the hissing voice again.

"Who are you?.. What do you want from me?.."

"Ronald Weasley.."

Everything was dark and he tried to identify where he was but it was just not possible.

"You need to go back.."

"I don't want to go back! They don't want me there!" Ron yelled turning around without being able to identify the source of the voice.

"They are your enemies.. you need to keep them close.."

"NOO! They aren't.. they are just.. they just prefer him!" Ron was grabbing his head trying the voice form coming.

"You need revenge.." the hiss was on his head he couldn't stop from hearing it even when his arms were covering his ears completely.

"NOO! They're my family.."

Then some slow and silent steps were heard and a little figure started to come out of the shadows. It was Ginny. At least that she looked like Ginny but his eyes were different.

"Not anymore.." she spoke but her voice was not Ginny's voice it was the same hissing voice that Ron had been hearing. "Wasn't I clear..?"

"I.." Ron was dumbfounded.

Then one by one all the Weasleys started to came out of the shadows, all of them with the weird eyes, all of them saying hurtful things to him with the same hissing voice.

Ron didn't know what to think anymore and then he saw his mother, she was walking towards him with a frown over her face and she was not alone. The boy walking besides her was Harry.

"You're not needed anymore.." his mother lips were moving.

"I'm better than you.. I'm smarter than you.. They love me more." Harry's was speaking this time.

"NOOO!" Ron couldn't take it anymore he was going crazy.

"Of course he is.." Ron's mouth fell open when he saw Hermione walking with a grin on her face, Hugo and Rose were walking by her side.

"Who are you compared to the-Boy-Who-Lived?" Hermione said and she stopped by Harry's side.

Ron opened his mouth trying to say something but he was stopped because she continued talking. "No-one. Unimportant. common."

"That's not true! That's not true!" Ron was shouting to everyone there.

"You need revenge.. you need to return to Hogwarts.."

"NO! They'll be waiting for me!" Ron yelled at the ski which was entirely black, when he lowered his sight he was alone again but he was now standing in front of the Hogwarts castle.

"They won't.. I'll help you.. you need to return to Hogwarts.." the hissing voice insisted.

"Who are you!? Stay away from me!"

"I am your deepest desires Ronald Weasley.. the ones that you don't admit.. you need to return to Hogwarts castle.. you need revenge.. you need to find the Chamber.." the voice said.

"What Chamber?"

"You need to find the Chamber of Secrets.. you need to unleash its curse over your enemies.."

"The basilisk is death!" Ron said.

The voice then stopped and Ron felt a sudden pain on his head. Images of his second year started to appear before his eyes until he saw a flashy image of Harry holding the Gryffindor sword stained with blood and Tom Riddle's diary.

He felt then a rage that didn't appear to belong to him.

After a long pause the voice came back. "You need to return to Hogwarts.. you need to be close to your enemies.."

"But.." Ron started to protest but then his whole world was turning around and after that he felt as if he was falling through a big black hole.

He woke up in a rush.

He was sweating and breathing with some difficulty. He tried to force himself to remember his dream but it was useless, all what he managed to feel was a chocking sensation on his chest as a forced heartbeat.

Dreams continued to haunt him the following days but he couldn't remember a single one of those dreams.

Then one day an owl came, it brought the Hogwarts letter. Apparently Dumbledore hadn't forgotten about him. He didn't have supplies and everyone will try to talk to him in there but he got a feeling that it was where he needed to go.

What really surprised Ron was a separate letter that appointed him as a prefect. "Is Dumbledore out of his mind?" he thought. He couldn't conceive how the headmaster would named him as a prefect if he knew he was on the run but he decided that it was not that important.

He currently had a life that was pretty easy to abandon so arriving at King's Cross was easy. The next day, September 1st, Ron put on his more Mugglish clothes and after grabbing his bag he headed towards the station.

He arrived as early as possible knowing that in that way he would avoid to meet the people that he didn't want to see. He found a good place and then he headed to the prefect's compartment where he began to wait for the prefect's meeting.

His heart was beating very fast thinking about what was going to happen that day. "This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea." he kept repeating himself.

The compartment started to fill with prefects but he kept his sight down, he knew who was the most likely person to be prefect with him. Quickly enough most of the prefects and the Heads were there but Ron was still expecting his partner. He was very nervous and he forced himself to fix his eyes away from the door.

Then it happened, the door opened and without turning he knew who had just entered the compartment.

"Sit down please, we'll start the meeting soon." the head boy said.

Ron saw heard the door close and then Hermione walked slowly to the empty place in front of him. Her eyes were wide and she was staring at him. Her mouth seem to be trembling like trying to find what to say but she never made a sound. Ron was even more surprised when the meeting started and she didn't pay much attention to it, Hermione's brown eyes didn't leave him the whole time.

When the meeting was over Ron stood up and proceeded to satisfy his prefect duties checking the hallway. He was in front of the compartment of some Hufflepuff third years when a voice stopped him.

"Ron" He was expecting that, he turned very slowly.

Hermione was standing a few feet away with her moist eyes focused on him. Then she ran the remaining space separating them and she hugged Ron.

"Where have you been? Why didn't you come back? We were waiting for you. Are you ok?" she rushed out of her mouth.

Ron didn't know what to do, a huge urge to hug her to were coming out of him but everything was very confusing.

"I'm.. ok" he managed to say.

A lot of squeals were heard then from the near compartments, Ron then realized that it was surely because they Hermione was hugging him right in front of everybody.

Hermione seem to notice to because she separated from him and addressed the students that were there, in less than a minute she had managed to control everyone in the corridor and then she turned to look at Ron and she spoke with a hopeful tone. "We need to talk about what happened, we can go to the compartment after we finishing patrolling. Harry wants to say that.."

"I don't want to talk to him!" Ron spat out frowning.

Hermione was taken aback, when she recovered herself she talked again. "He only wants to talk to you, maybe you can solve everything"

"I knew that you were on his side!" Ron said and he seem ready to leave.

"I'm not! Ron please listen to me. I want to talk to you. Would you talk to me?" she asked.

Ron was struggling with himself trying to answer to that question. He wanted to go with her but on the other hand hissing thoughts kept appearing on his head that told him to stay away from her.

"Alright, but I don't want to see him, I won't go to that compartment."


	15. Luna Lovegood

**HARRY**

* * *

Harry and Ginny walked silently all the way to the last compartment. All of the other compartments were already full and that didn't surprised Harry, they had been waiting for Ron to appear until the very last moment and a compartment didn't seem that important.

As they passed by the glass-paneled doors it became evident to Harry that everyone was putting a special attention on him, it was a weird behavior but he understood it as soon as the memories of the last editions of the Daily Prophet came back to him. At one point he turned his head to check at the people that were staring at him, he wondered how many of them really believed the lies that the newspaper was spitting.

At the very end they met Neville Longbottom, his round face shining with the effort of pulling his trunk along and maintaining a one-handed grip on his struggling toad, Trevor.

"Hi, Harry" he panted. "Hi, Ginny… everywhere's full… I can't find a seat…"

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked spiritless as she peeked inside the compartment. It was obvious for Harry that she had really held high hopes of finding Ron at the station.

"Well.. "

"But.. there's only Loony Lovegood in here —" Ginny said. "Come on.."

Neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone.

"Don't be silly," said Ginny trying to sound more cheerful than she really was, "she's all right."

Harry couldn't care less, with Ron's fate still uncertain a place on a compartment didn't seem important at all. Harry helped Ginny with her trunk and then he returned for his own trunk that he had left just outside the compartment's door. Neville followed.

"Thanks" Ginny whispered to Harry forcing a smile, then she turned to face at the girl sitting besides the window. "Hi, Luna," said Ginny, "is it okay if we take these seats?"

The girl looked up at the mention of her name. She had straggly, waist-length, dirty blonde hair, very pale eyebrows and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. Harry knew at once why Neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of distinct dottiness. Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of Butterbeer corks, or that she was reading a magazine upside-down. Her eyes ranged over Neville and came to rest on Harry. She nodded.

"Thanks," said Ginny.

Harry and Neville stowed the three trunks and Hedwig's cage in the luggage rack and sat down.

Luna watched them over her upside-down magazine, which was called The Quibbler. She did not seem to need to blink as much as normal humans. She stared and stared at Harry, who had taken the seat opposite her and now wished he hadn't.

Ginny was staring some point out of the window, she looked very distressed and Harry noticed that she was gripping to her seat. He knew that it would be very easy for him to guess right then what was going on her mind and he knew that because he was surely thinking the same thing. Ron, his best friend, didn't come to the station and that could only mean that he didn't want to be found, he was somewhere out of that window and there was a possibility that he would never want to be found again.

The silence grew and Harry was brought out of his thoughts by Neville who was moving nervously, he seem to be only one unsettled by the silence.

Ginny also noticed that so she forced herself back to reality, "So Luna? "How was your summer?"

"It was quite enjoyable, you know. I would ask about yours but it is obvious that you didn't had such a good time." said Luna dreamily, without taking her eyes off Harry.

Harry caught a glimpse of Ginny who was surprised for those words. Luna was a very perceptive person.

"I.." Ginny mumbled while a confused Neville moved his eyes around the two girls.

"But you clearly don't want to talk about it" Luna stopped her. "You're Harry Potter" she added as it was the most natural topic change.

"I know I am," said Harry.

Neville chuckled. Luna turned her pale eyes on him instead.

"And I don't know who you are."

"I'm nobody," said Neville hurriedly.

"No you're not," said Ginny sharply. "Neville Longbottom - Luna Lovegood. Luna's in my year, but in Ravenclaw."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," said Luna in a singsong voice.

She raised her upside-down magazine high enough to hide her face and fell silent. Harry and Neville looked at each other with their eyebrows raised. A small smile appeared also on Ginny's face and Harry was happy to see this, he knew that the situation with Ron was very hard but there was something in him that wanted Ginny to be safe and happy.

Harry was surprised by those thoughts about Ginny, he had experienced similar ones on the last month that they had been much closer but still it was weird to think about their current situation. He was starting to realize that she was a wonderful girl and he regretted that he didn't get to know his previous years.

His thoughts were wondering around the redhead when Neville pulled out a weird plant that was apparently his birthday gift, Mimbulus mimbletonia Neville called it. The plant was a gray cactus filled with boils, for Harry it really seemed like an odd choice for a birthday gift but Neville was a plant enthusiastic. Harry should have know better because after a demonstration from Neville dark green liquid squirted from every boil and Harry received a faceful of it because he was distracted with Trevor, the toad.

Ginny reacted just in time and she at least managed to keep the liquid out of her face, Neville on the other hand got his face and torso totally drenched.

"S - sorry," Neville gasped trying to take the worst out of his eyes. "I haven't tried that before… didn't realize it would be quite so… don't worry, though, Stinksap's not poisonous," he added nervously, as Harry spat a mouthful on to the floor.

At that precise moment the door of their compartment slid open.

"Oh… hello, Harry," said a nervous voice. "Um… bad time?"

Harry wiped the lenses of his glasses with his Trevor-free hand. A very pretty girl with long, shiny black hair was standing in the doorway smiling at him: Cho Chang, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

"Oh… hi," said Harry blankly.

"Um…" said Cho. "Well… just thought I'd say hello… bye then."

Rather pink in the face, she closed the door and departed. Harry slumped back in his seat and groaned but on his way down he caught a glimpse of Ginny looking at the window again, she was frowning. Harry didn't know what to make of that, for a moment when Cho entered the room he had forgotten about the kids that he was supposed to have with Ginny, he still was very confused about what he was going to do about that but he didn't want hurt Ginny.

"Never mind," said Ginny bracingly. "Look, we can easily get rid of all this." She pulled out her wand. "Scourgify!"

The Stinksap vanished.

"Sorry," said Neville again, in a small voice. Ginny was still frowning.

A lot of time passed before Ginny talked again which wasn't missed by Neville, still the round face boy didn't say anything about it. Harry found himself wishing so hard for Ginny's mood to return to normal that he didn't even realize that it was very late and Hermione hadn't returned yet. He started to wonder what could have delayed her so much.

When the trolley arrived Harry asked Ginny if she wanted something but she gave him a short answer. "No thanks." she said without looking at him.

"You know Harry," Luna then spoke and Harry remembered that she was still there, "I'm glad that you two are together, you do a wonderful couple. But you shouldn't have stared at that girl like that."

Ginny raised her sight immediately.

Neville's face showed complete surprise, "You two.. are going out?" Neville said moving his finger between Harry and Ginny.

"No!" said both of them at the same time, looking completely red. Neville was left puzzled.

"Are you sure?" Luna asked as if it was something that they may had forgot.

"Of course!" Ginny answered.

"Oh sorry.. it was just an impression" Luna said returning her eyes back to her magazine as if nothing had happened.

Harry, Ginny and Neville remained there looking at each other uncertain of what to do or say next.

"Eh.. are going to get some candy from the trolley?" Neville asked finally still raising an eyebrow at them, "Because it is leaving already."

Ginny took the opportunity to change the conversation very quickly. "Sure! We can still reach the trolley" she said as she stood up, she was still blushing.

"I thought that you didn't want anything." Neville said.

"Oh.. I changed my mind" Ginny said, "Let's go Harry before we miss the trolley!"

Ginny then pushed Harry out of the compartment and her face sobered, "I need to tell you something, later" Ginny whispered.

"Ok" Harry whispered back a little nervous as Neville caught up with them, the look on his face showed clearly that he didn't like to be left alone on the compartment with Luna.

When they returned at the compartment Ginny was talking to him again but her face turned serious once in a while, Harry knew that those reactions had something to do with what she wanted to tell him but he had no idea of what that was.

Luna Lovegood was indeed very weird and the rest of the trip only helped to convince Harry of that. At some point Luna even showed him her magazine, it was named The Quibbler and the owner was her father, as soon as Harry's eyes fixed on the index he freeze. There an article caught Harry's attention.

Sirius Black: Villain or Victim?

Harry moved quickly to the article but soon he found out that not only the article but the entire magazine was as odd as Luna. The article about Sirius ended up being a surreal theory of Sirius not being Sirius but a missing singer and soon Harry's hopes for a publication to defend him against the Prophet vanished.

Then the door of the compartment opened once more. Harry looked around; he had expected this, but that did not make the sight of Draco Malfoy smirking at him from between his cronies Crabbe and Goyle any more enjoyable.

"What?" he said aggressively, before Malfoy could open his mouth.

"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," drawled Malfoy, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chin were just like his fathers. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."

Ginny and Neville laughed. Malfoy's lip curled but soon he noticed something and a nasty smile appeared on her face. "Oh this is interesting," he started, "you have new friends Potter!.. what happened to the old ones?.. you lost them?.. they ditched you?"

It was not until that moment that Harry realized that Hermione had not yet returned, all the time he had assumed that she had been on prefect duties but how could that be possible if Malfoy was there? Had Malfoy saw her heading somewhere else?

Then Malfoy's words echoed back on Harry's head "..you lost them?.. they ditched you?" Harry's eyes widened.

He stood up to face Malfoy totally out of himself with desperate thoughts rushing through his head, "What if Malfoy's father caught Ron?.. What if he's with Voldermort now?.."

"What do you mean Malfoy?! they.. are still my friends." Harry said the last part not entirely convinced.

Malfoy and his cronies laughed loudly, "We touched a nerve there, eh Potter?"

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Ginny yelled and Harry saw on her blazing eyes that she was also thinking about Ron.

"Well at least you have Weaselette to defend you," Malfoy replied, "watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be over your footsteps in case you step out of line."

"Oh get out already!" Ginny yelled again.

Sniggering, Malfoy gave Harry a last malicious look and departed, with Crabbe and Goyle lumbering along in his wake.

Harry stood there a couple of seconds thinking what he could do, "What if Malfoy knows something?" he asked himself. He had just decided to go after him when he was stopped by someone who pulled from his arm. It was Ginny.

"Don't, it's what he wants. He is a prefect now and you could get in trouble."

"I don't care! he knows about.." Harry stopped because Ginny shook her head slightly, she made him gesture with her eyes. Harry then understood that she was trying to say to him that Neville and Luna were on the same compartment.

"Is there something wrong Harry?" Neville asked.

Harry sighed, "No Neville, it's Malfoy he's always a git."

Ginny dragged him back inside but on his way to the seat Harry saw Luna throwing some suspicious looks at them.

The weather remained undecided as they traveled further and further north. Rain spattered the windows in a half-hearted way, then the sun put in a feeble appearance before clouds drifted over it once more. When darkness fell and lamps came on inside the carriages, Luna rolled up The Quibbler, put it carefully away in her bag and took to staring at everyone in the compartment instead.

A couple of times Harry and Ginny went out to the corridors to look for Hermione, always trying to avoid Malfoy. They couldn't find her and their best theory was that she was still at the prefect's compartment or doing one of her new duties.

"We need to find her as soon as possible," Harry said, "I just want to make sure that she's all right" Ginny nodded.

At last, the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready to get off.

They shuffled out of the compartment feeling the first sting of the night air on their faces as they joined the crowd in the corridor. Slowly, they moved towards the doors. Harry could smell the pine trees that lined the path down to the lake. He stepped down on to the platform and looked around, listening for the familiar call of "firs'-years over 'ere… firs'-years…"

But it did not come. Instead, a quite different voice, a brisk female one, was calling out, "First years line up over here, please! All first-years to me!"

A lantern came swinging towards Harry and by its light he saw the prominent chin and severe haircut of Professor Grubbly-Plank, the witch who had taken over Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures lessons for a while the previous year.

"Where's Hagrid?" he said out loud.

"I don't know," said Ginny, "but we'd better get out of the way, we're blocking the door."

"Oh, yeah…"

Harry didn't let go of Ginny but around the bunch of students they couldn't talk about Hagrid's absence so they tried to concentrate their efforts in finding Hermione. When they arrived at the horseless stagecoaches that took all students above first year to the castle they still hadn't found Hermione. Harry froze.

The coaches were no longer horseless. There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts.

If he had had to give them a name, he supposed he would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible.

Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither - vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gathering gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister. Harry could not understand why the coaches were being pulled by these horrible horses when they were quite capable of moving along by themselves.

A short distance away, Draco Malfoy, followed by a small gang of cronies including Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson, was pushing some timid-looking second-years out of the way so that he and his friends could get a coach to themselves.

"I haven't seen her.. have you?" Ginny asked.

Harry just shook his head and spoke with another question, "What are those things?" he said pointing at the carriages.

"What things?" Ginny asked.

"Those horse things"

"The horse things pulling the carriages" said Harry impatiently. They were, after all, about three feet from the nearest one; it was watching them with empty white eyes. Ginny, however, gave Harry a perplexed look.

"Harry, are you ok? there's nothing in there.."

"Yes I am,..it's just that.. they're right there" Harry was pointing directly at them but Ginny didn't seem to react, then a strange thought occurred to Harry."Can't… can't you see them?"

"See what?"

"Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?" Harry asked and Ginny's expression sobered, she was looking worried now.

"Harry, they had never had anything pulling from them," Ginny said quietly grabbing his hand. It was weird but Harry didn't let go of her. "Are you sure that you are feeling all right?"

"I… yeah…" Harry answered, he didn't want her to think that he was crazy.

"It's all right," said a dreamy voice from beside Harry. "You're not going mad or anything. I can see them, too."

Ginny's eyes grew big. "See what?"

"The Thestrals of course," Luna said, "I've been able to see them ever since my first day here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry Harry. You're just as sane as I am."

Harry turned to look at Ginny, she was as stunned as he was. "Harry," she said after a moment "are you sure of what you saw?" he nodded slowly. Being able to see something that only he and Luna could notice was not a good thing.

"Aren't you coming?" came then Luna's voice. Some of the carriages were starting to move towards the castle.

He was surprised briefly but he managed to find an answer, "Yeah sure, we are just waiting for out friend. Hermione Granger, do you know her?"

Luna showed a brightful smile, "Of course, she is talking to your friend over there. Are they always like that?" she said.

Harry didn't register fully registered her words until he turned his face entirely, there a few carriages away was Hermione but she was not alone, she was with Ron.

After all what had happened the last thing that he expected was seeing both of them arguing as they used to. He couldn't find anything to think and soon he realized that Ginny had also noticed them since a quick gasp was heard besides him.

"It's.. him? Ron?" she asked completely dumbfounded. Harry barely managed to nod as he remembered the confrontation they had the last time he saw him.

Harry was completely shocked as he looked Hermione having another row with Ron, it was as if he never left. He kept getting images and hurtful words from Ginny's birthday but as much as those things had enraged him back then there was only one certain fact, Harry felt immensely relieved of seeing him there.

Ginny reacted first when she started moving towards them, Harry followed her soon afterwards. It was hard to walk through the crowd but the excitement kept them moving forward. When they were just about 15 feet away Hermione and Ron yelled their last words to each other and they broke apart. Hermione saw them an quickly she was moving towards them while Ron headed in the other way.

Harry and Ginny wanted to follow Ron but as soon as they saw Hermione standing in front of them they knew that they couldn't let her alone. She was mumbling against Ron while carrying Crookshanks under her arm but the most notorious thing was that it was evident that she was forcing herself not to cry.

"Leave him" she managed to say.

"But.. he's back!" Ginny said.

"What did he said? I he all right?," Harry added as he turned in the direction where the redhead departed, "I have to talk to him"

"NO!" Hermione yelled grabbing his arm before he rushed after Ron.

The people around were watching them and Hermione seemed to notice that because she continued talking in a very quiet voice, "He doesn't want to see you, it is best that you talk tomorrow. He is not going anywhere"

"We need to talk to him! We don't know where he has been.. Mom is very.."

"Ginny!" Hermione reprimanded her for raising her voice as she made a gesture with her eyes so she could notice the people around them. "Not now"

Harry ignored her and decided to go after him but Hermione stopped him again. "He has already left, look!" she said pointing at a carriage that was already leaving, Harry distinguished the back of the head of a red haired boy.

"Well talk to him later." she insisted, Harry was still doubtful.

She was right so Ginny and Harry sighed, "Ok later, maybe on the common room." he said "Where were you by the way?"

"Me?"

"Yes you, on the train, we couldn't find you." Harry said.

"You were with him!" Ginny yelled then, "Why didn't you tell us?"

Harry turned to look at his friend with a surprise look, "You were?"

Hermione nodded, "I tried to convice him to go with you.. but he was being very unreasonable. He said that I could stay with him and I needed to know what happened!" she was trying to justify herself.

"But you should've told us! Everybody is worried!"

"I know Ginny but he didn't want to and I was afraid that if I left I wouldn't find him again!"

It was hard to believe that Harry spent the trip worrying about Ron and trying to deal with Malfoy when Ron was just a few compartments away the entire time.

Harry wanted to interrupt the argument between the girls but he didn't have to because Hermione spoke first, "We can talk about this later, we have to go now or we will be left without a carriage!"

She was right so soon they found themselves back at Luna's, it didn't surprised Harry that she was still alone.

"I thought that you were going to return." she said with her dreamy voice without raising her sight from her magazine.

"Er.. thanks Luna.. Em, this is.."

"Hermione Granger, I know who she is."

After a quick introduction Neville appeared looking for a carriage and soon the five of them headed towards the castle on a weird silence, Luna didn't seem to matter.

As Harry saw the big castle approaching in the immense darkness he found himself thinking about Hagrid and the horseish creatures that only Luna and he could see, many surprises were welcoming him this year but at least he had the hope that soon he would be able to make peace with Ron.


	16. A Distant Return

**Yes, I'm still here.**

**Hope you are liking this story, I know that it is quite slow with the whole "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH RON?!" part but hopefully in a couple of chapters we would be right where everything turns dangerous.**

**I read all the reviews:**

**-Yes we will have a frightening Ron soon but we won't lose him completely just yet.**

**-Yes, we'll still have some Romione "There's still good in him"**

* * *

**GINNY**

* * *

The carriage ride to Hogwarts was usually a loud one since all of the excitement that had faded during the long trip used to reappear once that they were out of the train. However, this time the ride to the castle was nothing like that because all five passengers at Ginny's carriage were so silent that everyone was starting to feel uncomfortable, well everyone except for Luna who seemed oblivious to the world behind her upside down magazine.

In other circumstances the ride would have been very enjoyable, arriving at Hogwarts usually was, but for Ginny it was very difficult to think on something else that wasn't the sudden reappearance of her missing brother. He had been away for weeks and even when a part of her was relieved of seeing him again it was impossible to remain calm when there were so many things that she needed to tell him. She wanted to know where he had been all of this time, she wanted to explain how things happened back at her birthday but above all she desperately needed his forgiveness.

"So.. where's Ron?" asked Neville suddenly, he had just discovered the absence and he took the opportunity to break the silence that so far was unsettling him.

Harry, Hermione and Ginny were surprised by the question which was foolish since it was obvious that Ron not being with them was an uncommon situation, "He's in another carriage," said Harry, "we will meet him at the castle."

"I know.. I saw him, but why did he took another carriage? is he alright?"

"Yeah, Er.. he just had things to talk with Dean and Seamus." said Harry.

"With Dean and Seamus?" Neville looked confused, "Is it something with the dorms?"

"No! the dorms are fine"

"Then?.."

"He's fine you know my brother," intervened Ginny,"he's always willing to start a Quidditch discussion at any place and time."

Neville was thinking about it, "And he couldn't wait until we were at the tower?"

"It's simple really, he didn't want to come with them but they don't want to say it." interrupted Luna on a dreamy voice without taking her eyes away from her magazine. Ginny, Harry and Hermione were left stunned by her simplicity.

Neville's eyes were also wide open on the girl's direction, "He didn't?.. but.. I.." Neville turned to look at Harry, he was looking very embarrassed, "Sorry, I didn't know."

"Eh.. don't worry Neville, it was just an argument and he is being thick about it." Hermione said to him.

"Sorry either way, hope he'll come to his senses."

"He better" Ginny said trying to look upset but failing terribly at it, she couldn't even think about being mad at Ron when a huge burden came out of her shoulders the moment she saw him safe at the station.

Ginny didn't let the silence return because she decided to ask about something that was still making her uncomfortable, "Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" she asked changing the conversation. "Why was she there and not Hagrid?"

"Oh I saw her too," said Neville also glad that the conversation had changed, "Do you reckon that he left?"

"No! he couldn't have left like that." replied Harry.

"I'll be quite glad if he has," said Luna, "he isn't a very good teacher, is he?"

"Yes, he is!" said Harry and Ginny angrily.

Harry glared at Hermione. She cleared her throat and quickly said, "Erm… yes… he's very good." Neville was nodding.

"Well, we in Ravenclaw think he's a bit of a joke," said Luna, unfazed.

"Well, you are wrong!" said Harry. Luna didn't seem to care about that.

As they approached the castle the conversation on the carriage turned simpler because Neville avoided talking about Ron. At some point Ginny noticed Harry looking at the distance and she didn't have a problem to guess what was he thinking once that she followed the direction of his eyes, she was also worried about Hagrid specially with Hogwarts grounds submerged in darkness right where his cabin was supposed to be.

Once that they got out of the carriage Hermione approach Harry and Ginny and she whispered in a low voice, "Don't ask him anything now, the Hall is going to be full"

"We know" Ginny whispered back with a snort, she was still not happy at her for not telling them about Ron during the trip.

The Great Hall was as magnificent as ever with all the candles hovering over the four long tables and the black starless ceiling reflecting the outside weather. For a moment Ginny thought that everything was like last year with all the people whispering summer news and the teachers discussing school matters with each other but then she realized that something was different and it was hard to define, it was less joyful than last year and some faces looked more worried than happy, yes it was hard to define but Ginny knew what was different. Cedric should be out there and he wasn't.

Things could not be the same.

Then a weird whispering caught Ginny's attention and when she turned her head she found at least ten people nearby looking at them in a very unfriendly way, Ginny was startled at first but she soon understood that all of it was probably because of Harry and the rubbish that the Daily Prophet had been publishing. She didn't thought that someone could be so stupid to believe that loosy paper over Harry.

"Hope you can solve the problem with your friend" Luna said with the most normal voice as she drifted away from them towards the Ravenclaw table.

At Luna's words Ginny turned her head immediately to the Gryffindor table and he found him. Ron was sitting at the furthest end from the entrance right besides Dean and Seamus, he was talking to the people around him as if everything was normal but it was far from it and the rest of the Gryffindors knew that. Ginny didn't miss the weird looks moving between Harry and Ron surely wondering what was happening between them, neither did she missed the deep look that Harry was throwing in Ron's direction without caring about the other people that were looking at him.

"Look! Fred and George! Hurry!" Hermione said looking at the middle of the table. Ginny's eyes widened, she had forgotten about Fred and George and now they were standing up with their mouths fully open ready to move in Ron's direction.

"I got it!" said Ginny and she rushed to the Gryffindor table.

Keeping the twins from reaching Ron wasn't an easy still Ginny managed to convince them to talk to him later with very few raised eyebrows around the table. Both of them sat again very seriously and with their eyes still fixed at the other end of the table.

As she walked away from the twins Ginny realized that not only them but soon her entire family would find out that Ron was at Hogwarts and she wanted to believe that that was a good thing. The Weasleys had not been the same since Ron departed and even the twins were not joyful anymore, it had been too much to take specially for her mother that was still dealing with Percy's absence when everything happened. Ginny was hopeful that the news of Ron being safe could bring her mother some peace, all of them needed some peace to feel whole again because to say it simple the Weasleys were currently broken.

Ginny returned to where Harry and Hermione were explaining -or not explaining- things to Neville who surely must've found very odd everything that was happening, either way Neville was a nice boy and he didn't insist on the topic.

"We better get some seats before the feast starts," said Hermione, "We have been standing here far too long now."

"I guess you're right," answered Harry.

"There are some empty seats over there" Neville pointed out and they all seem ready to go except for Ginny who was not sure if they were expecting her to go also, after all she used to sit with her fellow fourth-years.

Harry noticed her doubt so he stopped, "Eh Ginny.. are you coming?" he asked.

A smile appeared on her face but before she could answer a couple of girls from her year came to get her because they had saved her a seat. "Great!" she muttered to herself as she found that she really wanted to sit next to Harry but she couldn't. Ginny made him a gesture that clearly pointed out that she preferred going with him but that she couldn't, Harry smiled just before going after Neville and Hermione.

The hat's song was weird and the sight of the new professor made her angry, she knew that her name was Dolored Umbridge before it was mentioned and she knew that she was going to hate her. The kids had said awful things about her but nothing made her more angry than the story of the scar on Harry's hand - "I must not tell lies" - Ginny didn't know what was going to happen this time but that scar was not going to exist, she wasn't going to allow it.

"Ginny, are ok?" said Hailey Dakota one of the girls on fourth year.

"Eh.. yeah, why?"

"You look like you are going to murder that woman!" Jada Angela answered.

Ginny was surprised at first but she frowned quickly, she wasn't going to deny that, "I don't like her."

"You don't know her."

"Still, she gives me a bad feeling"

"Ok.." said Hailey rolling her eyes.

During the feast Ginny found herself looking across the table, sometimes she tried to look at Ron but he never raised his sight and other times she unconsciously moved her eyes to Harry. Ever since the kids came she had been spending more time with him and it seemed odd to return to Hogwarts and have him so far away, she was afraid that she wouldn't have more moments with him now that they were back and the kids were not around. The heaviness of the situation with Ron had been exhausting but they always managed to get to her to smile, it was as if for an instant she could look at Lily giggling and feel that everything was as it should be. It was weird but those kids and Harry were her family also and it didn't matter how young she was, she couldn't bare the thought of losing them now.

At that moment Harry noticed her looking at him but he didn't seem to matter, in fact he smiled and wave, Ginny smiled back.

"Why are you blushing?" asked Haley.

"Uh?" said Ginny surprised of being addressed, ".. I'm not."

"Yes you are, who are you looking at?" Jada asked turning to the other side of the table but Harry was not looking in their direction anymore.

"No-one" she answered returning her attention to her plate, she knew that she was blushing.

Ginny couldn't lie to herself now, she had feelings for Harry and she couldn't change that but at least this time she knew that Harry would return those feelings eventually. Yes, Hermione insisted all the time on not getting high hopes with him but she couldn't avoid it, after all every time she thought about her children it was like thinking on she and Harry getting married.

Hailey and Jada gave her some weird looks and Ginny knew that it had to be because she was getting red again but she didn't care.

Then some voices came from the other end of the table and when Ginny turned she found out that McGonagall was next to Ron whispering something to him, after that both of them exited the Hall. Ginny's eyes widened, Dumbledore would surely want to talk to him but Ron didn't look surprised, he was expecting it.

"Wasn't that your brother?"

Ginny nodded.

"What would McGonagall want with him? Classes had not even started!" asked Jada.

"Dunno.. I was not looking until now." Ginny tried to sound calm but she was really nervous of what was going to happen next, she didn't want Ron running again.

Ginny moved her eyes up the Hall, Dumbledore was still there but his blue eyes were not twinkling as they usually did. Harry and Hermione looked worried and they were whispering to each other, in fact most of the people at the Hall were whispering now since it was not a common thing for a Professor to take a student out of the feast. On the other end of the Hall some Slytherins were laughing around Malfoy and that couldn't be good, Ginny noticed how the twins were glaring at him and she hoped that they were planning something because she couldn't resist seeing them depressed anymore.

Slowly the muttering started to fade as everyone returned their attention to their plates, well almost everyone because Cho Chang was staring at the Gryffindor table and Ginny didn't have to turn to know who she was looking at. She didn't like that, Ginny knew that she had no right to being jealous because of Michael but she really didn't like Cho staring at Harry.

It only took a moment for Ginny to decide but there was no other way around, she had to end with Michael. She didn't know what would happen with Harry but she had to try, after all she knew that there was something that made Harry fall in love with her in the future, she just needed to stop being a fangirl and find out what it was.

Ginny continued eating but she didn't feel comfortable until Cho stopped looking at Harry.

The feast was soon over but what happened next shocked almost everyone in the Hall. The new Professor, Dolores Umbridge, had interrupted Dumbledore's speech and she decided to address the school herself, this was only Ginny's fourth start-of-term feast but she knew that interrupting the headmaster was surely an unprecedented situation. It was hard to understand what did the woman's words really mean but Ginny didn't have to be a genius to know that it was bad and that it was the Ministry's work.

Moments later she headed to the Gryffindor tower still puzzled but she was stopped at the exit of the Great Hall.

"Ginny!"

She turned to find who was calling her and her surprise was very big when she realized that it was Harry.

"Eh.. Hi."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Of course not!"

There was a brief silence that was interrupted by a forced cough, "Eh Ginny.. meet you upstairs?" said Hailey.

"Yeah, sure." she replied and the two girls moved forward not before sending some weird looks to Ginny and Harry.

"Where's Hermione?" asked Ginny once that they resumed their way noticing that Harry was alone.

"With the first years, she's the only fifth year prefect for Gryffindor right now."

Ginny's expression changed to surprise, "How is that possible? they always choose two"

"They did, the other prefect is not available" Harry's face made a weird gesture and Ginny didn't know what to make of it.

"Who is it?"

"Ron" answered Harry quietly.

Ginny was completely shocked, she couldn't figure out how could they pick him as a prefect, Ron was far from being a top student and Dumbledore surely knew that he was not around when they picked the prefects. "Ron? How?"

Harry shrugged, "Just found out at the feast."

"Mom will be.. would be.." Ginny didn't know if this really mattered to her mother considering the current circumstances, ".. forget it."

The way to the Gryffindor tower was rather silent since Harry seemed absent, Ginny knew what was going on his mind because she was also thinking about where was Ron at that moment.

"Do you think that he would want to talk to us?" Ginny whispered trying to avoid being heard which was difficult considering the amounts of glares that Harry was receiving.

"Dunno.. but he'll hear me, one way or another."

A few seconds passed before she answered, "He won't listen to me, you know? not after.." the images of her birthday came back again to Ginny and she tried to keep a calm expression.

"He'll come to his senses, he wouldn't be here if he wasn't considering talking.. right?" said Harry quickly when Ginny couldn't finish her sentence. She was very glad of having him now but she didn't know how much would that last, the next day the classes would be starting and he was probably going to hang out with Hermione most of the time.

"I guess so.."

Ginny's thoughts wandered to Hermione who was all by herself trying to do a task that was meant for her and Ron. Ginny sighed and she realized how unfair she had been with her, after all she was surely thinking about Hugo and Rose every time she saw Ron it was understandable that she didn't want to lose sight of him back at the train.

"Poor kids.." Ginny thought to herself when she remembered her niece and nephew. Hugo and Rose were probably the least guilty in all of this and Ginny couldn't stand thinking on what would happen if she was in Hermione's position, the only thing certain was that she owed her friend an apology.

When they reached the common room the first persons they found were Fred and George who didn't took their eyes apart from the portrait hole, Harry and Ginny tried to find a quiet place to tell them everything that happened at Hogsmeade station which was very difficult with all the agitation in the common room.

"And what did he told her?" asked Fred

"We don't know, Neville and Luna Lovegood were there, we couln't talk" replied Ginny.

Then Hermione entered the room and after taking the first years to their dorms she returned and started her explanation.

"But you could've told us" said George

"I wanted to but Ron said that if I left then I would not find him again! What was I supposed to do?" Hermione tried to defend herself and it was clear that she was pretty altered.

"You're right, it's just that.." Ginny could not find what to say and she just sighed, "sorry, it was not your fault. I'm very sorry for being noisy and all." They smiled weakly at each other and after a while the five of them were sitting on a couch in silence without taking their eyes apart from the entrance.

It seemed like hours passed as they remained there waiting and with every second that came and go Ginny was more afraid that Ron had already ran away from Hogwarts. Hermione eventually stood up and started wandering around the common room uncontrollably and Harry took a look outside a couple of times but it appeared like nothing was going to happen, if Hermione wasn't the prefect they would've been asked by now to go upstairs considering how late it was. Still they couldn't avoid a few weird stares from the people on the common room but they eventually were left alone.

Then Hermione couldn't take it no more and she headed to the portrait hole, "I'm going to talk to Professor McGonagall, she must know something."

"Hermione, it's too late!"

"It's ok, I'm a prefect."

She was almost there when the portrait swung open letting pass Professor McGonagall and Ron into the common room. Immediately everyone stormed towards them.

"Ron!" a few voices yelled but Ron didn't seem to hear.

"Where were you? What happened?" Hermione rushed the words.

Ginny didn't wait for an answer from her brother or for another question because she had been holding on something that she had to let go or she was going to explode, " RON!.. I'm so sorry..I-I.. I didn't meant to..I-I'm.." tears started flooding across her face as she walked toward her brother.

Ron gave a step back to refuse the hug and he twisted her mouth, "Are you?.. I don't think so" he answered coldly.

Ginny's moistened eyes opened wide, Fred and George looked equally surprised.

"Ron, please listen to her! she's very sorry.. we all miss you.." said Hermione.

"I don't believe that." he said as he started walking towards the boys' dorms.

Everyone was stunned, Ron was leaving them behind again. Harry was the first to react and he went after him, "RON! Wait.. we need to talk.."

Ron turned because Harry had grabbed him from the arm, "Let go of me!" he said releasing himself from the grip, "I don't need nothing from you.." after he finished he resumed his way towards the stairway.

"RON!"

"Mr Potter! Let him go." Professor McGonagall's voice echoed in the common room and Harry stopped at once. He turned with a stunned look as Ginny and everyone else moved their eyes with shock between the professor and the boys' stairway, in only took a couple of seconds for Ron to disappear from their sight.

"You should not question Mr Weasley for now, the moment is not the best one." said Professor McGonagall with a clear frown in her forehead.

"But we need to! where has he been? did he said that to you?" asked Harry.

"You were talking to him all of this time, weren't you?" added Hermione.

"I had been at a meeting involving Mr Weasley yes but I insist in leaving him alone for now," she said, "it is for the best right now and that is not a request."

"We cannot leave him like that! there is something going on with him!" said Ginny desperately, she put all of her heart when she tried to apologize to Ron but he didn't even let her start, he really didn't care if she was sorry or not.

The tears returned to Ginny's eyes but she tried to repress them, she didn't want to cry. Harry then spoke to her softly, "Ginny.. are you alright?"

Ginny nodded sadly.

"Is he going to return?.." asked George.

"Mom needs to know he's here." finished Fred

"We don't know that yet but I can assure you that your parents already know of your brother's whereabouts." at those words the twins and Ginny relaxed a bit.

"Professor let me go upstairs," insisted Harry, "I can still reach him and.."

"I said no, and don't make me repeat that. It is very late, you should all go to get some rest." Ginny knew that tone and sure Harry did also because he decided to let it go for now.

"Mom didn't wanted to see him?" asked Fred raising an eyebrow, Ginny knew that in this case not even Professor McGonagall would've been able to stop her mother from rushing up those stairs.

The professor turned even more serious for a moment but she eventually let out a sigh in defeat, "Your parents were here Mr Weasley, they just left."

Everyone was surprised by that.

"Why didn't they came up? Or asked to see us?" asked Ginny.

"I'm afraid that they were not feeling very good, we all had a rough night Miss Weasley but don't worry they are alright." the old witch answered.

The shock in the faces of Ginny and the others was huge, Ron had said something to her parents, she didn't know what or why but it was bad she just knew it. It was unbelievable but her brother had gone on a meeting with McGonagall and her parents - probably Dumbledore too - and he ended it in his terms, in some weird way everything turned out as he wanted, he was at Hogwarts but he never returned. Ginny didn't recognize her brother anymore.

Professor McGonagall must've had notice the expression on their faces because her features relaxed, "Look, I'm confident that everything will be solved. If there's something going on with your brother - or best friend - we'll find out what it is, if there's nothing then we will deal with it."

The Weasleys and Harry nodded but their faces showed a great sorrow. Hermione was pale.

"Are you alright Miss Granger?"

"Eh..?.. yes professor." she answered on a very low voice.

"Are you sure of that."

She nodded.

"Well if you don't then I hope that you'll find your way to the infirmary." the professor said looking at Harry and the Weasleys. Ginny knew that it was up to her to check on her because the boys couldn't go into the girls' dorms, they all nodded.

"Now, I want all of you in bed before I return and not a single word to him, understood?" she said the last part facing the twins and they nodded mechanically with their eyes lost in the distance.

No one was able to get a good sleep that night and Ginny couldn't stop thinking of what had happened, it was just all wrong. Ron was not like that, she was sure of it, something had happened and they needed to find out what quickly. Ginny knew that he could act like a prat sometimes and he was definitely thick but he was far away from causing all of that pain willingly.

For a moment Ginny decided to stop thinking about her remorse and she focused on everyone else. Her mother was surely not right but she couldn't imagine what could have happened at that meeting. Hermione was at a though position, she had Rose and Hugo and for a moment before her birthday Ginny had thought that Ron could ask her out, now everything was messed up. Then there was Harry who couldn't stop feeling guilty for no reason, he was sharing a room with Ron but he couldn't say anything to him, and that must be very hard.

At one point she found some sleep but the nightmares returned bigger than ever and at the end that was not better than staying awake.

In morning all of them were battered by the bad sleep but they tried to deal with it, even Hermione looked exhausted but she found the strength to reprimand the twins about an annoucement of one of their products in the noticeboard, the worse part was when they accepted the guilt spiritless. Harry was not having a good time either because on their way to the breakfast table he kept mumbling about Seamus Finnigan and Lavander Brown, apparently they were on the Prophet's side and that really annoyed Ginny.

Ginny didn't care this time about saved seats and she decided to go with Harry and Hermione to breakfast earning more weird looks from Haley and Jada.

"Nothing," Hermione said then looking at her copy of the Prophet, apparently she was still getting those to get informed about what it said about Harry. "Nothing about you or Dumbledore or anything."

Professor McGonagall was giving the schedules at that moment but they didn't had the time to focus on theirs because at as soon as they took the schedules from the professor's hands something weird happened, Errol came flying and hit the table just in front of them which surprised Ginny greatly.

"Is he alright?" Harry asked trying to help the old grey owl.

"He'll be ok, but what is he delivering? Do you think that it is a letter from Mom?"

"Could be" said Harry.

When Ginny took the package from the bird's foot she was surprised of finding not one but three letters. The first one was clearly from her mother which was a good thing, Ginny wanted to know what happened and how was she doing so she rushed to read it.

"What does it say?" asked Hermione.

Ginny looked disappointed, "Nothing really, she says that she knows about Ron and that they are ok. She also wishes look to all of us and says that she loves us all."

"Your mother is a wonderful woman."

"Yeah, you should write her back." said Harry, Ginny nodded but she knew that her mother was not entirely alright, hopefully everything could improve soon.

Then her attention moved to the the next letter and as soon as she saw the handwriting she gasped.

"What's wrong?" asked Harry.

"Look" Ginny said passing him the piece of paper, soon Harry's eyes went wide. The handwriting was very messy because it was obvious that a kid wrote it but the words in front of it were clear enough, "Harry and Ginny".

"James" whispered Harry.

"It's not like they can put 'Mom and Dad' in there, that would be dangerous." Ginny added but she still had on her hands the last letter and as soon as she saw it she passed it to Hermione with a weak smile, the handwritting in that one was slightly better but it spelled "Ron and Hermione" instead.

Hermione's eyes widened, "Rose" she was finding it hard to smile and Ginny knew it had to do with her brother's name on the letter.

"Do you want to read it together?" asked Harry surprising Ginny.

Ginny blushed but she nodded.

Then Harry snorted heavily, he was looking at his schedule now, "Those are the worst classes! and they are all today!"

When Ginny saw the piece of paper she knew that she couldn't disagree with him. "Can we meet after classes finish?" he asked.

Ginny blushed again, "Yeah, I'll wait for you."

A sudden noise from Hermione's chair startled them then as the girl stood up frowning.

"What's wrong? Where are you going?" asked Harry.

Hermione showed him the envelop that Ginny just gave to her, "I'm going to tell him that I have this in case he wants to read it." she said, Harry and Ginny didn't had to ask to know who she was talking about.

"McGonagall said that we should leave him alone for now."

"I will do it either way."

"In front of the entire Hall?!" asked Ginny.

"Watch me!" said Hermione and she stormed away from her seat.


End file.
